Life at 31

Hiya!

Brain dump: engage!

You know what irks me? Babble dot com. Here I sit, perusing random blogs when all of the sudden I see a post that's telling me to check out the top shoes/dresses/doo dads of the summer. Then, BAM! Here comes Babble dot com and all its slowness. The preview pics are too small and the lag time is what does it. So, one close of the tab later and I'm hoping to find some other shoe or dress that someone else deems the hit of the summer on another beloved blog. /rant.

Fail. Every time. 

In good job news, I have a new job! I'm now a case manager for a transitional housing program at a local non-profit. Folks entering the program face many barriers to housing, but have a lot of goals and aspirations during their two year stint on the program. Our agency provides self-sufficiency classes and a rental subsidy for a majority of the households. I'm carrying a heavy case load at the moment, but things will even out a bit once our new case manager comes on in the next few weeks. My second week of work brought attendance at a statewide conference on ending homelessness in Yakima. Can't wait for my health bennies to kick in come September!

Yakima has its own slug bug.

In all seriousness (as this is the internet and all), I turned 31 yesterday with very little fanfare... and I enjoyed it. Just a busy workday followed by a mellow dinner with family at Woody's Tacos. I was even in bed by 11pm. Is this for reals, yo? My party-hardy days of the last decade have been tucked away into Livejournal posts, photos, scrapbooks, and the nooks and crannies of my mind.

Honey, welcome to my box. 

Here are some neato things I found around the internets this month:

• How to make a Notice Board                               
• A recipe for quinoa salad
• Darling rick rack napkins
• What to do with all those Instagram shots
• Scallop wall art
• Painted popsicle stick garden labels
• Burritos! (these have become a staple round these parts. And we don't fry these in oil; we use our panini press.)

I've started watching Dawson's Creek, which I did not watch in high school (save for one episode I recorded and subsequently fast-forwarded through for the scene which contained background music by Alanis Morissette). Maybe I thought it was just as cheesy then as I do now. And I'm pretty sure the 'secular' tone was frowned upon at my church's youth group, although I recall a few folks that watched it in secret. Silly boundaries for teenagers are silly. I'm only three episodes in but the music is a total flashback to late 90s pop. Here's a gem for ya!

Until next time...

Summer is here!

The big 3-0 is right around the corner! It feels as if summer vacation is on its way and my to-do lists are ever growing. I have just the right amount of time to complete everything before we head out of town for vacation.

I had a genius idea around the 10th of June to compile a post per day, documenting every birthday thus far. Alas, I haven't kept the idea fresh in my mind when I'm around my mom's to poke around albums for birthday photos. I probably have a few on my flickr page and a few loose childhood photos floating around that I could scan.

We're still running into our 30s with Couch to 5k. W8D2 is next, although W8D1 was mighty difficult for both of us, mentally and physically. Here's the segment I'd like to call 

Awesome running tips!

1. Clip your toe nails and keep them short! Ugh. I found this out the hard way when my pinky toe dug into its neighbor, leaving an icky and painful mess. 
2. Don't consume juice or anything sugary prior to a run; stick with water!
3. Stretch. And when you haven't stretched enough, stretch a little more. 
4. Drink more water. Water, water, WATER.
5. If it's warmer outside than normal, run a little slower to ease into the hotness/humidity.  

I've been browsing 5k listing for late July/early August, hoping to peak Andy's interest (he finds them to be expensive). Yes, they can be with participation in frequent races, but think of the accomplishment you'd feel once complete! He won't read this so I might be preaching to the choir, but he's in veg mode at the moment and it's hard to retain his attention. Ugh, again. 

45 minutes later... We're registered for the Race for the Homeless, taking place on August 6, 2011! YAY! http://www.raceforthehomeless.org/ Matched donations will support Open House Ministries which helps homeless folks and families achieve self sufficiency.

Next agenda item... bed! I have more to share and will most likely have a few moments to write a post tomorrow.

Another lazy Sunday

Not much to report in regard to the weekend. I spent most of yesterday catching up on the last few episodes of Law and Order: SVU while Andy worked. Here are some other updates in bullet point formation:

• Our Las Vegas vacation begins in 38 days (as well as my 30th birthday)! We'll be staying at the Golden Nugget on historic Fremont Street, taking in dinner and a show, relaxing by the pool, drinking, perusing the multiple buffets, and potentially getting swayed into hopping on a few rides. I've been on the NYNY coaster and the Big Shot atop the Stratosphere, but the other two rides scare the bejeezus out of me!
  
  
  
• We celebrated Andy's 31st birthday last week with family at Gustav's.
  
  
  

  

  My nephew Tommy is a huge ham!

  

  Happy Birthday Andy!

  
  

  
  
• We hiked Dog Mountain on Thursday and it took us just over 5 hours round trip, but was well worth the multiple days of sore calves and core muscles. This is our second hike of the season; our first was the very easy Multnomah Falls. Not all of the flowers were in bloom on Dog Mountain, but the weather was perfect: 75 degrees, plenty of sun and minimal wind. No rattlesnakes were sighted, but we did encounter a bit of poison oak.



I wasn't too sure how I was going to make it up the side of the mountain.






The last .4 miles!






Us at Puppy Point






Andy, on top of the world.



Looking northwest toward Mt. St. Helens.






Looking southeast into the Columbia River Gorge.






Looking west.






The last pull to the summit!

• We're still in the midst of C25K and will be running W6D2 this evening. It's been nice to engage in other outdoor activities, and we've also had to kick our own behinds a few times to run in the rain (which is actually quite refreshing). I was very surprised that I could run for 20 minutes at a pretty decent pace, without stopping! We've been looking around for 5k races that are compatible with our schedule, but need to do a little more research before we commit.