Online Shopping gets Fancy

I have done a fair amount of on-line shopping for fun because it is fun to get something cool in the mail, but mostly because it is more convenient.

For the past few weeks I have been shopping for shoes and have exhausted all the places within a 5 mile radius of my home - maybe I should get out more - so then I decided to try out DSW.com. Okay, yes, there is a DSW store at Cascade Station, but I don't go there so I wouldn't go buy shoes in the actual store. I found a shoe that I thought would be a good work shoe and promptly placed an order online on Tuesday. Yesterday, Friday, I received the shoes and the shoes are great, but the packaging was what really got me! Check it out...

The shoe box was wrapped in purple tissue paper and the sticker says "Unleash your Passion for Shoes". The receipt and other information comes in a fancy envelope and they even tucked a DHL tag in just in case the shoes didn't work...HOW COOL IS THAT?! The prices are pretty fair and there is a shipping fee, but nothing beats a package that has been carefully packaged for shipping....LOVE IT!

Friday's at work...

Friday's have become very slow at work with the new 4-10 hour days that a few of our 40 hour people work. I have been bringing my new camera to work just because you never know when a photo opportunity might pop up...

This is Jim as he was walking thru my area - he's not usually this fuzzy...

My friend Tim who is thoroughly enjoying Friday - although he will come and visit at some point during the day when he is on shift. So this is what I look like from the other side of my desk....

Vacation Project

As I was emailing back and forth with my cousin yesterday I mentioned what Tom and I had done on our vacation - gave him my blog address and blah blah blah - he wrote back and wondered where the pics of the garden boxes were...duh...I didn't post any!

There was a method to my madness last week, but I ran out of time - here they are...

These were taken before Tom went and got the chicken poo(p) Hopefully some greenery will make this building look better - or not so ugly.

Fashionable Commuting

A few months ago I was looking for a new backpack to use while bike commuting this summer. One of the links went to the fatcyclist website - he is AWESOME! On this particular post he had reviewed a pack by Banjo Brothers and I was immediately interested. I waited all summer to order it and now that I have it, I can't wait to use it! If you take a look at the fatcyclist post you will see all the cool features the pack has. I'm pretty excited that there are still a few days left when I can use it. The best part is that it is waterproof - as if I would be riding to work in the rain. I love the reflective strips on the back...I don't know how anyone could miss those!

Today is my day off of my bike and running...so I will be trying this out tomorrow and possibly check out the waterproof properties of this pack.

SO AWESOME!

Vacation Week Almost Over

It's been a fun week, just Tom and I hanging out at home. We got lucky in that Tom only had to work a few hours on Thursday! He was home the rest of the week which was a bonus compared to thinking that he may not have much time off this week - I love it when a work plan falls apart.
We did some riding, worked on the garden box project and had a nice relaxing time at home. I also managed to do my Tamales on Thursday AND Friday!

TAMALES

I must be part Mexican some how because I LOVE Mexican food! I have been wanting to make a decent tamale for quite a while now. The only tamales I have had were the kind that came in a can that had a layer of fat on the top when you opened the can (not that good) and the frozen variety that I have found at Trader Joe's (they are not bad).

So, a month ago or so I ordered a couple of books - Tamales 101 and Tamales - and got to studying. I decided that I would go with the more traditional recipes in the 101 book before I branch out to the more exotic recipes of the other book. Also, I have a "Best of Mexico" book that I have used when I make tortillas that I think is a pretty good book too.

On Thursday I got all the components ready to go and made the Masa Dough and got somewhat organized and got to wrapping pork in red sauce into masa and then folding them into corn husks - it turns out that they are much easier than I thought and my first batch of tamales turned out pretty well. So much so that I thought I should share them with some friends - I like tamales, but when you make your own you get A LOT!

Thursday evening I got a wild hair and decided to try another "flavor" and decided on Chicken Verde Tamales. These would require a Salsa Verde which must be made from scratch. Only because I wanted to find out how to do this and how long it would take. It didn't take long and by the end of the evening I had Salsa Verde - and tons of it!

My Tamale Reference Books - or cookbooks.

One of the Pork with Red Sauce Tamales

The people I shared the tamales with said that they were good...which I'm glad because I thought they were pretty good myself. I love to "experiment" on my friends and they don't seem to mind.

Next up, chocolate tamales with caramel sauce - I don't think there will be a shortage of people who would be willing to try these out!

The last week has been a lot of fun and I wish I didn't have to go back to work already, but I'll be looking forward to my next mini-vacation.

Movies

This is simple. I don't really like movies - Tom really does. When we first started dating and Tom came home for a weekend from whatever project he was working on it was almost a sure thing that we would go to the movies - UGH. For a while Tom would go to the movies with a couple of friends from church - two women friends. They would go to all the action films that came out or whatever. I never minded because I just didn't care for going to the movie theater. Sometimes if we had rented a film, I either go do something else or promptly fall asleep during the movie. That is how interested I have been in movies. I'm getting better though, my interest is actually developing.

A couple of weeks ago I finally figured out who had been putting the Netflix movies into our outgoing mail at work and that peaked my interest. After a brief conversation with the guy I found out that this Netflix thing is a pretty cool deal...for a small monthly fee movies will be sent to my home AND come in the return envelope that is postage paid already. No more browsing around the store for a movie, which we usually don't find anything worth renting and no more calls from the video store with "friendly" reminders to return the movies that we have had for a day or two longer than allowed.

The 2 week trial period which only included 2 movies just ended this week and Tom is thinking that we should already upgrade from the basic, basic plan to the unlimited, one movie at a time plan. For 9.99 per month - that is a slick deal and we know that we'll get the movies that we want AND know that the movie will be available.

I could get into this movie thing and really make the rental plan pay off!

Felida Friends

Here are some photos of the people that are a part of our church family...some of them we have known for the 17 years that we have been fellowshiping at Felida and some are newer, still, these are good friends!

Fancy Pose by Tom and RobinEver Bashful Kay

Doug & Mary

Attentive listeners

Vacation Day #1

I'M ON VACATION!!!!! I'm only a little excited - it's good too because Tom will spend at least 3 days at home instead of having to go back to work on Wednesday as he first thought. We'll take the extra days off for sure!

Time to RIDE
We started the day with coffee and then got ready to go for a ride to the Industrial Area - which was untended for the most part. We had hoped to get onto the trail that should go all the way to Marine Park, but there was construction next to Beaches Restaurant and the sign suggested to continue on the other side which we never found. It was a stressful ride with all the big trucks up and down Columbia. We turned around and found our way to the new land bridge that goes over SR 14 which was quite cool. From there we made our way back home thru downtown Vancouver and then back out thru Felida.

The Old Apple Tree

Tom in front of the Old Apple Tree Look out point at the top of the bridge

Garden Boxes
It's been more than 4 or 5 years since we have had any kind of garden and I have been missing it. I asked Tom if we could make some garden boxes for a garden next Spring and he thought it would be a good project that we could do together. We made out way to Shur-Way to pick up the materials (which was much less than at Lowe's) and we returned home to get to work on our project. We cut everything and put everything together fairly quickly and tomorrow we'll get them situated in the spot next to the garage.

Getting Ready to cut the sides of the boxesCut pieces of plywood ready for assembly Corner pieces for strength & stability
Here I am with my wearing Tom's ear protective wear.
Ready to drill

#20

20. Okay this is it, I started this list thing I don't know how long ago and I have decided that I am just not that interesting enough to come up with 100 things about myself OR I got bored with it. So my #20 is I get bored quickly.

Being Flexible

So many times things do not turn out as hoped or planned for. This summer has been really fun and the things that we planned for actually turned out and we had a blast - but all good things must come to a screeching stop and things are turned upside down.

This week Tom informed me that there were a possibility of him starting a new project that would potentially cause a big change in our comfortable life. The notion of Tom starting on a new project and actually staying out in the field was a crazy possibility and one that would last thru the end of the year. After a big pow-wow meeting yesterday at his office he determined that he would not be staying out in the field, but instead would be working long hours and would start next week Wednesday.

The problem with that was that we were to be on vacation next week. Not only would he be working on a new project, the project he is currently working on is located in Utah, so he has been traveling there and left this morning for a couple of days. So our vacation time together has been cut down to 3 full days and not much time to do so much that we had planned on.

I was looking forward to just hanging out with Tom and taking care of things around the house - as we have been neglecting so much during the last couple of months. I should be thankful, he could have started on Monday instead of Wednesday.

Flexibility is key here. I was looking forward to riding the Peach of a Century at the end of the month and that is up in the air now as well as the Gresham Jazz 5K run. We'll see how things go in the next couple of weeks.

I don' think that I'll be making any more plans for the rest of the year.

Tamales Part I

Mexican food is one of my favorites, but we don't go out for Mexican around here because I have not found a good place to dine at yet. Actually, if we aren't in Tijuana with YWAM then I won't be going out for Mexican food anytime soon. We love the tacos at Tacos El Gordo located not far from Avenida Revelucion...

Fresh tortillas...oh my...

Besides carne asada I love tamales. It must be the masa because it's pretty rockin' stuff! After a couple of trips to Tijuana and watching the ladies making the tortillas I decided that it really couldn't be that difficult - turns out they are not that difficult and I have made tortillas quite often. Since those days I have been wanting to try to make Tamales. I have yet to find a decent tamale and really any old tamale will do in a pinch, but a really good one is hard to find. The closest I have gotten is at the Vancouver Farmer's Market, even then it was a little bland, no sauce, but really good flavor...it has to be the masa...I love the masa!

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a couple of books on Tamales and have been "studying" the instructions to get familiar with them. There are lots of good recipes, but I'm going to stick with a traditional pork with red sauce tamale to begin with. Since our vacation is coming up in a week I decided that would be a perfect time to make them as they are labor intensive and can be an all day project. I will make them into a project that spans over a few days just to get it kind of right.

I have already begun the process by cooking the pork a couple of days ago and today I will actually make the meat mixture and get it ready to go and perhaps try freezing it to see how that works out. I'll actually form them and wrap them in the corn husks next week - more on tamales later!

rest days rock!

The last decent ride that I did was Sunday with Tom. The route was a 39 mile route that took us from our house to 205 bridge to Marine Drive to Interstate bridge and back home thru Felida - it's a great route and I love it. Saturday we did our Bethany route which was 20. So after those two rides we did a short run on Monday and errands on the bikes which were both very easy and relaxing compared to the riding. So 58+ miles of riding and a little running, not a bad weekend!

Yesterday was my day off. It's amazing what 24+ hours off the bike and no running will do to a person physically. Plus I had a really good night's rest...a first in a while.

This morning I felt like I was flying on my bike - it was awesome! My average was 14.4 mph which is up a little and I'm psyched. All the riding this summer and some during the Spring has paid off. I'll continue training for the century that will be at the end of the month and maybe get in for a massage in a week or so...oh my those are nice too, but that's a different post. Rest Days - I highly recommend them!

silly survey's

I was going thru my email that I have saved and doing some clean-up of things that are unnecessary...I came across this from over a year ago. I REALLY need to go thru my email more often! It's kind of interesting to see how I answered certain questions...

********************************************************

Welcome to the 2007 edition of getting to know your friends. Okay here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun! Just copy (not forward) this entire a-mail and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you.

Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you. Some of you may get this several times. That means you have lots of friends.

1. What would your name be if you married your favorite star? Mrs. Matt Damon (no change in the last year)

2. What type and color of shoes are you wearing? Skechers – Black, “Biker” (Still wearing skechers, I gots to get me some different shoes!)

3. What did you eat for dinner last night? Crab cakes, pesto pasta & grape tomatoes. (Sounds tasty, I should do this again!)

4. Where was the last restaurant or fast food place you ate out at? La Bottega @ 19th & Main, Uptown Village, Vancouver, WA (mmm...La Bottega)

5. Do you believe in Karma? No (what IS karma anyway...luck? chance? wishful thinking?)

6. If you were a vehicle, what would you be? Do bikes count? 2007 Scattante CFR Elite Road Bike or a 2007 Volvo S60 Black or Red (this was obviously before I got my newest Fuji Road Bike because THAT is what I would be if I were a vehicle or a smart car)

7. How is the weather right now? 51 degrees, cloudy, and a threat of sunshine. (threat...I thought that was clever of me.)

8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Del Blanchard (ugh)

9. What was the last thing you looked up on the internet? The Weather to answer #7. (accuracy is everything)

10. Who was the last person you got into an argument with? No argument, just irritated with someone at work. (No arguments, just silent treatment)

11. What do you want to be different in your life by this time next year? Less MRIs & less visits to oncologist. (mission accomplished! Next MRI in October)

12. Would you rather have a house cleaner or cook? House Cleaner. (haven't changed my mind)

13. Would you rather be 4ft tall or 7ft tall? 4 ft. (I like my height now, but I'm sure that over time I'll get closer to 4 ft.)

14. What is your favorite thing about yourself? My willingness to try new things. (I SAID THAT?)

15. What is on your night stand next to your bed? Lamp, magazines & books (mostly bicycling related), Burt’s Bees lip balm, Water. (not much changes except that the burt's has been relocated and I'm parched)

16. When was the last time you watched the sun rise? Yesterday as I was getting ready to ride to work. (not been making much of an effort recently)

17. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas (Christmas Jan-Dec!)

18. What CD is in your car stereo right now? Amy Grant, Time Again Live (Kevin Max, The Imposter)

19. What color is your living room couch? Sage Green (with a coating of cat hair)

20. What is the oldest thing in your freezer? Not sure…some old cookie dough from last year I think (Hard to say, the freezer went on the fritz in june so everything is about the same "age" now.)

21. Do you like to gamble? Not really. (I learned how to play texas hold'em - my teacher was a college student)

22. What are your favorite potato chips? Lay’s Cheddar & Sour Cream (baked)

23. Who have you known the longest that you are sending this to? Robin (whoever reads this)

24. If you could be any animal, what would you be? A smart one. (the SMARTEST one!)

25. What was the longest you've ever been in a hospital (if ever)? 3 days (I did this 3 times...so really it was 9 days total)

26. Describe yourself in one word: fun-loving…oops that’s two words. (cranky)

27. If you won $10,000 today, what would you spend it on? Buy a new road bike and other stuff to go with it and a tandem bike. (this is a silly question - how would I win if I don't like to gamble?)

28. If you knew you were going to die in 1 year, what would you do? Ride my bike like crazy. (RIDING LIKE CRAZY!)

29. Watch the movie or read the book? Read the book (and hopefully finish it)

30. Do you LOVE filling these things out? Not so much……(it was fun to put comments behind my original answers)

Fast Twitch Fridays - Last in the series

I took this video of the racers warming up before the sprints began...turn up the volume a bit and listen to some funky weird music from Star Wars (?)

Cycling Month Has Come To An End...

August went by so quickly, but it sure was a lot of fun! With cycling events every weekend you would think that I would be tired of being on my bike, but I'm not. This month I logged more miles than I have in past months and did quite a bit of bike commuting to work. There is one more cycling event that we will ride - the Peach of a Century - which we plan to ride the full century since that was my goal for the beginning of the cycling season.

Fast Twitch Fridays
Friday night we went to Alpenrose for the final Fast Twitch Fridays which was fun. We packed some food and the chairs and camped out to watch the final of the series which was a lot of sprints and points racing. The interesting part was that there were times that a woman would race against a man in a sprint and some of those women are FAST; It was hard to believe that some of those women could race so fast and actually beat the men!

The next time we go to Alpenrose it will be during our vacation and it will be all Madison races which will be cool because I have not had a chance to see that. I like some really good racing, track, road, criteriums....really anything that involves bicycles!

Tom's capturing some cycling action

Sprints Race