November Intentions

I really like what fellow blogger Sara Cotner does each month: lays out her intentions for the month and then checks back with herself on or around the first of the following month to see how her goals panned out. With that, here are my intentions for November 2011:

• Figure out what we're doing for Thanksgiving weekend (I already know that I am running the Turkey Trot 5k that morning, and we are also travelling to University Place on the 20th for a family gathering).
• Talk with Andy about holiday gift spending limits.
• Run 6 miles each week (broken up into two runs). Also, look into warmer running clothes.
• Visit the gym 3 times each week (I've been twice so far this month). 
• Can our cucumbers! These have been sitting on the counter for far too long. 
• Finish grating our autumn squash for freezer preservation.
• Look into a class on grant writing.
• Check out a Spanish workbook at the library. Also, spend time during my work day on vocabulary/verb conjugation drills. 
• Coordinate a time with my dad and step-mom to take them out to dinner and bowling (this is last year's Christmas gift). 
• Work on hand-crafted holiday gifts. 

Oregon Coast Adventures

I've been browsing through my photo/video folder on the ol' phone and have discovered a few gems from the last year. Here's a video and a few photos from a January 2011 drive south on Highway 101. We stopped at the Devil's Churn just south of Yachats, OR, then made a few random stops along the way for pictures, video game hunting, and thrift shopping. This was the first and only trip we made south on 101 during our stint on the coast, as we hardly ever had days off together or much in the way of spending money.

Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay, Oregon

Cape Perpetua Scenic Area

Heceta Head Lighthouse

Devil's Churn

We also dined at the Blue Heron Bistro in Coos Bay, which had a rather interesting mix of German and Seafood. I enjoyed the Broiled Scampi while Andy went with the Oktoberfest, which I seem to remember being quite the large meal. We'd arrived in Coos Bay after 6pm or so and found that most of the shops in the downtown area were closed. We didn't want to drive back to Depoe Bay just yet, so we decided to see Black Swan at the theater in North Bend. Upon arriving, I realized I'd left my debit card at the restaurant. A quick jaunt back and forth and we were able to make the movie! The almost 3 hour drive back was long but we had episodes of This American Life to get us through.

Continuing to change

I have to admit that some of my single behaviors still linger over into marriage. When we've both worked long and tiring days or just come back from the gym and neither of us want to make dinner (i.e. a complete and balanced meal), I always opt for the "let's fend for ourselves" route. Maybe it's because my family used to do this on occasion and it was no big deal; I got to eat what I wanted which was usually snack foods or a bowl of cereal. When I throw up that option now, sometimes Andy will let me have my way and I end up dining on snack items and a big, gigantic smoothie.

Well, tonight, I didn't get my way and I'm okay with that, because dinner was good. While wandering around the grocery store after our rainy and cold football game, we hemmed and hawed over which sauce to throw on our chicken. I protested once more until he said "This is what families do: they have dinner together and I want to make dinner for us." Swooooon. So, I left my own pity party and picked out a few veggies for our meal. Our spicy, crunchy, delicious stir-fry that I also get to eat again for lunch tomorrow.

This is what our family does.

Mid-week video

Here's a video of my nephew, Tommy, dorking it up for the camera from over the summer.

Zombie Apocalypse 5k

Andy and I participated in the Zombie Apocalypse 5k Trail Run over the weekend at Lee Farms in Tualitan, OR over the weekend. Wow, was it was tough! The survivors (us) started two minutes before the zombies took off. Their goal was to pull flags off of the survivors and make it across the finish line.

Classy Las Vegas tee shirt

Dressed in purple!

 As we ran through a corn maze, dodged personnel in fatigues, listened to the warning sirens and trampled through the mud, we were informed to watch our back and keep up our pace! For awhile I was being "chased" by bad fruit: zombie bananas! Despite Andy getting over a cold and stung by a bee while racing, he clocked in around 32 minutes, and I finished at just over 38 minutes (the hills were not friendly). I really didn't notice how much of the first half was uphill until the second time around the course. The scenery of the farm was quite lovely and I'm really happy that we participated and finished.

Finishers!

Race swag

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