my total money makeover

i don't remember how i started listening to him; all i know is that i now listen to him most days and he is changing my life.  'he' is dave ramsey.  i just finished his book the total money makeover and i'm currently reading financial peace revisited.  dave doesn't teach anything new or extraordinary.  rather, his philosophy is simply to live on less than you make.  it seems like pretty straightforward advice, right?  well, considering the level of debt in the average american household, it seems as if it is a lesson that everyone (myself included) could use.  


listening to dave and reading his books has made me realize that it is absolutely possible to do things financially that you previous thought were impossible.  all it takes is dedication and time.  unfortunately, most of us want it and we want it now.  he will teach you how to change this.  


his books are all on sale at the moment for $10 each - a perfect gift for christmas!  buy here. you won't regret it!  

¡Salud! success

wow, i really am the worst blogger on the planet.  i do all my updates on facebook, so i forget (or fail to take the time) to update my blog. 

today i have a reason to update since i have this amazing photo to share.  doesn't my husband look awfully dashing in a tux?   

it was taken by my friend carolyn wells-kramer at the ¡Salud! auction on saturday night.  she is a great wine country photograper here in the valley. 

the new zealand travel package i put together was the highest earner of the night, fetching a whopping $15,000!  that package itself will give nearly 188 vineyard workers comprehensive preventative medical, dental and vision care next year.  very cool!

at last glance, we had sold 16 tickets for the nz/oregon pinot noir "showdown" tasting, so less than 20 to sell and still two months to do it in.  we should get there! 

word for the day: discouraged

i had another physical therapy treatment this morning and discussed the option to postpone the marathon with my therapist.  we both agreed it would be in my best interest to switch to the spring season (eugene marathon).  that will give me 3 months to rest my leg, do some strengthening exercises and try to correct the muscle imbalances.


i'm not going to lie, i'm not happy.  to have trained all this time and not be able to cross the finish line with my team pretty much sucks.  but, from all accounts, the eugene marathon is a cool event and (added bonus) at least one of my current teammates will be running the season with me.  oh, and my funds for TNT transfer with me.  so, all is not lost. 


unfortunately, the weather today is cold and rainy, so i think that's just exacerbating my discouraged mood.  i'm drowning my sorrows in a latte. 

i hate quitting.

the portland marathon is 19 days away and i have 3 days to decide if i'm running it or not. if i don't run it, i can still transfer to another season (probably the summer season and do the eugene marathon on 5/1/11) and not lose too much of the money i fundraised.

but i hate quitting. the competitor in me wants to run (we're "thisclose" to the race and i've been training for 4 months!).

knee -- you're killing me here!!!

iliotibial what?

i kind of suck at blogs! i always get really excited about the prospect of keeping a blog, but then i suddenly realize that i haven't posted in two months, which kind of defeats the purpose of keeping a blog.

at any rate, the big news lately is that i have been battling with iliotibial band syndrome (according to wikipedia, one of the leading causes of lateral knee pain in runners). with the portland marathon less than 3 weeks away, i am getting less and less optimistic about actually accomplishing my marathon goal this year. which, i'm not going to lie, is a huge bummer considering i've now put 4 months of time into it (7 if you count the half marathon training from january to april). but when i can barely make it through the first 6 miles of a 20 mile run, i'm not so sure that 4 1/2 hours of running in excruciating pain sounds like fun.

so, i'm very, very, very cautiously optimistic that this thing will work itself out before 10/10/10. after all, it came on without warning, so perhaps it will go away without warning. in the meantime, i'm going to physical therapy and hoping that will help.

next year, I might try biking instead!

why i love baz luhrmann

i don't even know where to begin tonight because i have a gazillion and one thoughts going on in my head right now.

the first thing i'll say is that our team in training workout tonight ROCKED! i remember experiencing a runner's high in high school cross country, but i forgot what it felt like. for the last 12 years, i've been an on-again-off-again runner, never quite having the motivation to stick to a schedule and run by myself. well, all that has changed with team in training. this week just feels downright amazing. i feel like rocky balboa -- fist pumps and all!! i can feel all of this sweat and hard work paying off. my body is getting stronger. i'm getting faster. i'm running further. and it. feels. darn. good!!

so, not only that, but i was listening to 94.7 in the car on the way home and they were playing songs from 1998, which brought me right back to manton high school. we had the verve, third eye blind, green day, barenaked ladies, the beastie boys, and -- one of my all time favorites -- baz luhrmann, everybody's free (to wear sunscreen). some of life's most amazing pieces of advice are in that song.

• Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….
• Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
• Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
• one point that is especially true for me -- Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
  lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
• one my mom always taught me -- Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
  might run out.
• my favorite -- Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own...

seriously. amazing stuff. i'm not afraid to share that i literally had tears in my eyes listening to it. i don't know if it was because i was on such a high after my workout... or if it's because i'm getting older and realizing just how true all of these points are... or just simply feeling nostalgic for a time when i wasn't becoming so "adult."

but, truthfully, i think it was the point about being young and having so much possiblity before you. i think about where i thought i was heading in life when i graduated from college and compare it with where i have ended up. they are such different places, but that's ok. you know why? it's because i have a wonderful life. and you know what else? the possiblities are still endless. they will continue to be. we must all constantly grow and change and adapt. life is too short to let opportunities pass us by and it is too short to ever let our imaginations shut down.

with that, i should mention that i'm meeting with the director of global soul international (coincidentially named chad) next week to talk about volunteer opportunities. i'm excited to see what he has to say!!

10 random facts about me

1. i am obsessed with photography blogs. i love them. i read them every day and live vicariously through the photographers. i am saving up for a nikon d60 and in the meantime am pouring over photography books like understanding exposure and the adobe photoshop cs4 book for digital photographers. maybe one day i'll be able to take photos that are half as good as some of these folks: Esther Havens Photography, Gary Chapman Photography, Jasmine Star Photography, The Beautiful Mess (owned and operated by a guy i went to high school with and his uber-talented wife), and Love the Schultzes. there are many more photographers that i follow online, but these are some of my favorites.

2. i am obsessed with goals. i have fitness goals, financial goals, weekend goals (get "insert chore here" done). for example, i decided last fall that i was going to run a half marathon this year... well, i've done that, am doing the cascade lakes relay in a couple of weeks, and the portland marathon in october. my half marathon turned into a running trifecta... and that's just the way i like it.

3. my dog is my child. i love her like i imagine i will love my future human children. i worry for her safety, i spoil her, i'm proud of her when she learns something new, and i love, love, love cuddling with her. she makes me happy.

4. i have a husband (and a dog!) that can't sit still, which is probably why we're so good together. if we have a day off, we're off to the lake, on a hike, golfing, biking or playing tennis. he also hates shopping. i think he's been a good influence on my fitness level and my spending habits.

5. i have nervous breakdowns when things are messy or out of place -- not so good when you live with a man and a dog. when they first arrived in oregon in february, i was constantly stressed out about my messy car for WEEKS! i still hate that there is dog hair, dirt and dust everywhere in my car... but i try not to get upset about it.

6. i have visited 9 countries and lived for a period of time in 2 of them (france for 13 months and new zealand for nearly 4 years). next up: chile and peru in 2011 (see? another goal.).

7. my husband and i had a fairy tale start to our relationship. we met in france where we lived at an abbey, and on our first date we kissed in front of a castle. we both cried at the paris airport when we had to leave each other because, at the time, we didn't know when we'd see each other again. and then he missed me so much, he asked me to move to new zealand to be with him -- and it took me about 1/2 a day to decide to go. that's just how i roll.

8. if my checkbook isn't up-to-date down to the penny at any given point, i feel unsettled! weird but true. i like knowing exactly how much money i have.

9. chad and i are one of those fancy couples that own property overseas -- we have a house in new zealand. not because we necessarily want to, though. we tried to sell it last year and couldn't, so we put tenants in it. we'll put it back on the market late this year. better luck this time.

10. ice cream and espresso are two of my favorite things. put them together in a milkshake and i'm one happy girl.

refreshed

our little family spent the holiday weekend in manzanita on the oregon coast. what an charming little town! there is something about the beach and the ocean that leaves you both relaxed and in awe. we'll definitely be back again this summer (hopefully when it warms up and we can lay out in the sun)!

here's a shot of chad and fife playing in the pacific ocean. doesn't this look idyllic?

the thing i'm grateful for today is summer heat and sun! we hit 87 today - the highest temperature so far this summer. it's supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow. i say BRING IT ON!!!!

blue skies... smiling at me...

nothing but blue skies... do i see...

yes, that's right, we haven't seen the rain in oregon for several days now! yippee! in fact, i even put shorts on yesterday. yes, shorts at the end of june - crazy thought, right?

it's amazing how good you feel when the warm sun hits your face. i think that's the good thing about spring and all the rain. it makes you appreciate the great weather so much more when sun finally comes your way, and not take the sun for granted. this logic could be applied to a lot of things in life, as i'm sure we've all experienced.

this week was quite something. i got a lot done:

i signed up as a monthly donor to the un refugee agency and am currently filling out a volunteer application for global soul international.

i met with the panel members for the new zealand vs. oregon pinot noir "faceoff" tasting i'm organizing to raise money for ¡salud!

i celebrated my 1 year anniversary at adelsheim - and therefore could finally become a responsible adult and sign up for a 401k.

we made a decision on packaging changes for our wallace brook label. (yay! forward motion!)

we started making plans for the winery's 40th anniversary next year - quite the event line-up!

coming up:
i'll run 9 miles in the morning with team in training!! then i'll be helping on saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday with oregon pinot camp!

on monday, chad and i will also be attending a lecture called "food, labor and immigration," which should be extremely interesting - especially given chad's work as a viticulturist managing a non-english speaking all-hispanic crew.

all this while the blue skies keep smiling! :-)

what i'm thankful for today - seasons. winter and spring make you really appreciate summer when it finally makes an appearance! fall is simply gorgeous.

my internal conflict

on tuesday night, i watched the movie beyond borders which we had from netflix. i actually used to own the movie and lost it somewhere along the way (i think it ended up being left behind at the abbey in pontlevoy). at any rate, i can honestly say that it is one of my favorite movies ever made. it touches me beyond words; i was literally crying throughout the movie. i know exactly how angelina feels when she is at the charity ball and clive owen bursts in with the ethiopian boy. he starts talking about life in the western world, about champagne, and dancing, and the wastefulness of it all... all while the ethiopian boy he has brought lives on less than 300 calories a day. she breaks out in tears and the next thing you know, she is in africa bringing medical supplies and food - and ends up working for the united nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

you probably all know that during college and after graduation, i had longed for a career in diplomacy, international relations or international development. after a failed attempt at a state department internship in bangkok in 2003, i applied for the peace corps. i was halfway through the application process (about to get my medical exam) when i got the offer to go work in france. and we all know that's where i met chad and went to new zealand and ended up in the wine industry.

i love working in this industry, don't get me wrong. wine people are very passionate about what they do - not only that, but they are just plain fun. the wine we make is really beautiful and i certainly enjoy drinking it. wine bonds people and is part of some very memorable social experiences. it sparks conversation, it speaks to its home, it comes in many different forms, it is wrapped up in cultures all over the globe - in much the same way as cuisine. oh, and my office looks out on a vineyard. seriously. it's a beautiful place to be.

that said, over the last nearly six years in the industry, i have really struggled to come to grips with what i do. when it comes down to it, i'm not helping anyone. what i'm doing is promoting a product that is a discretionary expense. i deal with people with too much money and too many coture clothes for their own good. winemaking is farming and fermenting fruit. however, people make it out to be much more important than it actually is. i help sell $75 bottles of wine when what i really want to do - if i'm completely 100% honest - is send that $75 to the UNHCR for refugees. i mean, really, there are 10.5 MILLION refugees in the world right now. can you imagine being uprooted from your home, never able to return due to war, civil unrest, persecution or otherwise...? walking for days upon days just to get to some help, facing wild animals, crazy guys with machine guns, rape, murder, torture along the way? that really puts things into perspective, doesn't it? watch the movie hotel rwanda if you want to see it in full moving color. the quote "you're black. not only are you black, but you're african" makes me, in a word, sad.

today i came across the blog of photographer joni kabana who is from here in oregon. she recently spent some time in ethiopia documenting maternal medical projects. i had no idea that something like fistulas even existed. the fact that joni met an 8-year-old girl with one because she had been sodomized just makes me completely disgusted by what horrible things one human being can inflict on another. even more than that, the fact that women in the developing world walk for days to get to these clinics is astonishing. many of them are turned away because there is so much need for help and there are so few doctors. one of the things joni talked about was the pain of turning someone away when you knew their need was just as great as the person you chose to help. how do you decide who gets helped and who doesn't?

i want to donate to global soul international. i want to help. i want to buy that nikon d90 and learn every nook and cranny so i can help tell stories like the stories of these women in ethiopia or the stories of the refugees that unhcr helps on a daily basis. i want to travel abroad and volunteer. i just can't shake that need to help, even when sitting here in my air conditioned office looking out on the vineyard and drinking my readily available cold and clean water. for now, i donate. then i learn. then i travel.

watch this space. and in the meantime, donate to UNHCR, global soul international, or one of the many hundreds of aid organizations that exist, if you can. even $15 helps.

p.s. the thing i'm grateful for today is technology. without it, stories like those joni heard in ethiopia wouldn't get told as easily or to as many people.

summer tunes

i walked through the cellar today and the guys were all jamming to Fat Freddy's Drop, a favorite new zealand band of mine. chad and i saw them in concert at Peregrine Wines during my first summer in nz. in fact, we took in a cooler (aka "chilly bin") containing cans of red bull and a bag of ice. when the lady at the gate asked us if we had vodka in our bag of ice, we just awkwardly laughed because, well, we actually did. thankfully she let us through anyway - which made for a fun night, lol! at any rate, this band is one of my favorites, especially for sitting out next to the bbq on a warm summer's evening... or just for listening to at your desk, which i'm doing as we speak.

you can find them here on itunes.

in other news, i promised yesterday that i'd try to keep a "things i'm thankful for" list going. here is day 2:

i am thankful that i have a healthy body which allows me to do things like run a 216.6 mile relay! t minus 5 weeks and 3 days until the cascade lakes relay. i see LOTS of hill training in my near future...

thanksgiving day in june

i'm feeling a bit negative today, complaining about work on a monday when i need to just be thankful that i have a job in the first place - and a great job at that!

so, i'm deferring to an earlier blog post (here) that was meant to remind me that "every day is a good day." in honor of that, i'm going to try to post something every day that i'm thankful for.

day one:

i am thankful for my job, especially at a time when so many others do not have jobs. yes, some days are frustrating, but the bottom line is that i'm well compensated, i work with a great team, and i look out at a vineyard for goodness sakes!

life is good.

oh, internet

the power of the internet literally astounds me. on one hand, i think it's fantastic that we can look up anything we want about anyone or anything in the world and have answers within seconds.

on the other hand, i think it's sad how we're all so connected electronically that it takes away from actually connecting with people in more personal ways. we all carry cell phones around like they're a third arm, but do we actually ever call anyone on it? and if someone does call you, do you answer it? do people still stop by each others houses just to say hi and have a cup of tea? do we remember anything that is going on in someone's life without being prompted by facebook to remember? i think not. the internet completely takes away any and all brain activity that existed in pre-internet life. i, for one, can barely remember 5 phone numbers now. why is that? it's because i don't have to.

it's also scary how someone can post something about your or your company that is so completely misrepresentative of the truth. but at least the comment box lets you reply in real time and hopefully clear up whatever the misrepresentation is. i can't imagine being a teenager today, though. imagine if all the clique-y mean things that happened in high school extended into the wider online world.... how awful. anyone can say anything they want at any time - which is not necessarily a good thing.

in all honesty, sometimes i wish i grew up in the 60's and 70's when rotary phones were still around. wouldn't it be great to go out to eat in a restaurant and not have your whole table on their cell phones checking facebook? socializing in person... what a novel idea!

goals before 30

in three days, i'll turn 29, which means there is still a lot to do before i hit the new decade.

i can't say that 28 has been bad, that is for sure. the last year brought a lot of changes. in fact, it was my last birthday which saw chad flying back to nz (not the best of birthday presents, but hey...). the fact that we got married, he and fife are now in oregon, and he is working as viticulturist is pretty fantastic!

so, with that, here are some things i want to accomplish within the next 368 days:

1) run the cascade lakes relay and the portland marathon (training in progress)

2) sell the house in nz; explore options for buying here in the valley

3) start a 401k (i.e. finally be a responsible adult) - plus some other financial goals

4) buy a nikon d90, keep reading photography books and blogs, and see if we can't create some acceptable images!

5) go to nz for dane and julia's wedding and christmas with the douglas clan

6) book trip to chile and peru (even if the actual travel doesn't happen until after my 30th birthday)

so, now that this is all out in public, i'll be held accountable!

the abbey brewery

chad asked me the other day what i wanted for my birthday and i said that this might be a good opportunity to get the abbey (home) brewery going (because, really, what girl doesn't want a bunch of buckets, hoses and a carboy for her birthday?). i started reading the complete joy of homebrewing last night to get myself psyched up. i bought that book a couple of months ago, but since we didn't have any equipment yet, i hadn't done anything with it. this could yield some interesting results...

we joke that we're going to call it the abbey brewery since we met at an abbey. this would make a nice label, would it not?

i ♥ ray

i'm sitting at my desk at work right now listening to ray lamontagne and thinking about how relaxing it would be listening to him while getting a massage, taking a bubble bath, or something else equally indulgent. damien rice used to be my go-to guy for this genre of music, but ray has really stepped up this year. there's something about his music that just lets all the day's stresses lift out of your body and leaves you in a relaxed state of bliss. if only he would come to portland so i could see him live, my year would be complete!

speaking of relaxation, it's power yoga time again tonight. yippee!!

i have some pretty incredible friends

people truly amaze me. while sometimes - i'm being honest here - they can be annoying, rude, and just generally drive me crazy, there are many, many people in this world that truly inspire me - my friends.

let's start with my friends from college - yes, all of them are beautiful, smart, driven and doing amazing things in life. but i specifically want to mention dr. jamie sage (dr. wachtor before she got married last year). she and i did our undergrad together at ferris and then she went on to become a dentist and today graduated (again!) this time with her degree in orthodontics. she has been in college for eleven years - ELEVEN YEARS! she is one smart cookie and i'm so excited and proud to know that she has accomplished something so great.

then there's my friend lindy, who is moving to mexico in a week where her husband is going to work with the state department. if i had one regret in my life (and i don't really believe in regrets because it was always what we wanted at the time), it would be that i left the opportunity to work at the u.s. embassy in bangkok in 2003 and never again got to follow my dream of being in international relations or diplomacy. i will be living vicariously through lindy and travis. i am so excited for them (and very excited that they will have a guest room, a pool, and a 30 minute drive to the beach!). vacation anyone?

while we're on the academia topic, let's also mention my friend carolyn who started her phd in economics last year. let's also mention that she just spent several years living in france working for one of the biggest french banks. currently, she is going to school, practically living at the library, and planning a wedding at the same time.

there are so many more people i could mention, but then this post would be a hundred pages long.

it is truly amazing to have met so many wonderful, smart, driven people in my short years on this earth. i love the power of social media and that it allows me to follow them, vicariously, in their exciting life adventures. i only wish we were all closer so i could see them more than once every 3, or 5, or 7 years or so.

stretching and strengthening in a dimly lit room

i am at peace with the fact that i will never be able to do this move (above), but i still love power yoga all the same.

in all my inflexible glory, i get to do the half series in a dimly lit room with wonderful soothing tunes in the background. while we all balance on one foot and reach our arms forward and our foot backward, and we shake while we try to hold ourselves in place, i find incredible peace. i can stand in warrior pose feeling the strength in my arms, rooting myself into the mat, and finding power in my soul. it is one hour of my week where i can take my time breathing in and breathing out, slowly stretching, feeling my muscles unwind... and working some muscles that would (i am ashamed to admit) not get worked otherwise (boat pose with arms open wide to one side, obliques burning, is one example).

in short, he who invented power yoga is a genius.

summer is... here?

well, here i sit on memorial weekend watching my husband assemble a bbq grill and my dog dig holes... while it is raining. i am in long pants and sweater. this is not the way it should be! we weren't living here last may, but we hear this is not normal for this month. only time will tell.

at any rate, here is a photo of the new grill and of our pooch contemplating all the juicy steaks that will be cooked on it...!

on the road again... i start running again on saturday!

for those of you that don't know, i have signed up again for team in training, this time to do the portland marathon (yes, the full 26.2 miles - i must be insane). i am doing it for a reason bigger than myself - to raise money for the leukemia and lymphoma society to help people like our honored teammates emily, karin, mark and caleb. caleb was diagnosed with burkitts lymphoma in july 2007 at age 9. thankfully, it is in remission, but not without him having to go through chemo and all the awful things that come along with it. unfortunately, 7 months after he was diagnosed, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. nine months after that, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. what a horrible thing - i just can't imagine.

i bet you didn't know that blood cancers are the leading cause of death of children in america. the leukemia and lymphoma society (LLS) gives $1 million a week to fund blood cancer research. in fact, they funded the research of a doctor at OHSU who created the drug Gleevac. people who were previously told they weren't going to live very long are now able to take a little orange pill. this one little orange pill targets the bad cells as compared to chemo which can't tell the difference between good cells and bad cells. that all happened right here in Oregon.

there are 11 support groups for people with blood cancers in the portland area, including a group for young adults and another for spanish speakers. funds from LLS support these groups.

LLS also has a co-pay assistance program, which means a patient can get up to $10,000 from LLS to help pay their medical bills. LLS can contributed $15 million per annum to this program.

they have a program called first connection which pairs up cancer surviors with newly diagnosed patients for information and support.

finally, LLS is involved in advocacy. because of their efforts, health insurance in Oregon now has to cover your standard care if you participate in a medical trial. previously, insurance companies wouldn't cover medical trials.

and so, for all of these reasons, i am running a marathon on 10/10/10. i would appreciate your support by tax-deducible monetary donation at my fundraising website. my goal is to raise a minimum of $1,250 and my friend kim has gotten the ball rolling with the first $50 donation. $1200 to go!!! please help me help LLS.

nikon d90 - i have my eye on you

one of my goals for 2010, aside from doing my "running trifecta" is to save up money to buy this guy:
a nikon d90 dslr camera

oh, and to learn how to use it! i just bought a book on amazon called "understanding exposure" and it sounds like i'll get another one for my birthday entitled "the adobe photoshop cs4 book for digital photographers."

for a long time, i have secretly coveted beautiful photography and pored over photography blogs on a daily basis. i will be the first to admit that i've never been the "creative type," but i'm very excited to start a new hobby! thinking long term, i eventually want to learn film photography and have my own darkroom - but that may be a few years down the line.

every time i go into portland and see the urban area in all its splendor (and the folks up there that definitely aren't afraid to express themselves), i wish i had a camera in hand. same goes for living in beautiful oregon wine country - the green hills, the vineyard cycles, the people working hard in the fields - it's an absolutely stunning place to be. oh, and of course, the coast, where fife likes to run wild on the beaches and chase after seagulls. my camera phone just ain't doin' it anymore!!

speaking of which, here is one of the wee girl at cannon beach this last weekend:

so, watch this space. maybe you'll see some photos here sooner rather than later!

my top 10 favorite things about today

1) lilacs. they are out now and they are divine.

2) watching fife lean accordingly as we drive around curves. she's so clever.

3) taking fife to the dog park. fun for both her and me!

4) running through the (unexpected) pouring rain with chad and fife at portland saturday market. we all looked like drowned rats but were laughing.

5) my caveman coversation with chad this morning:
me: do you think cavemen cooked their food or ate it raw?
chad: probably cooked it.
me: how do you think they go the idea to do that, put food over the fire?
chad: how do you think they got the idea to rub two sticks together?

Hmm, yes. Touche, Chad, touche.

6) french toast.

7) bunk sandwiches (for the first time!).

8) bridgeport blue heron.

9) driving a car to the store. in 1910, i would have taken horses and it would have taken hours.

10) all the interesting people in portland who aren't afraid to express themselves. the city is such an inspiration.

we finally joined the rest of the world...

unfortunately, i haven't been on here for a few weeks, as chad and fife arrived, we moved apartments and we didn't have internet until last thursday. not only did we not have internet, but we don't have a tv or a radio... basically we were cut off from the outside world. well, not any longer!

these last few weeks have been busy - too busy to recall everything that has happened, but namely: my sister came to visit for a week, we moved apartments, chad is job searching, i ran 12 miles for the first time in my life, and we are going to start homebrewing soon (once we figure out what the heck we have to do to get started). i also decided that I'm going to keep going with team in training and do the portland marathon on 10/10/10 and then in 2011, we're going to south america (peru and chile) for 3 weeks. shortly thereafter, i will turn 30 and we'll see if i stick to promise of starting to try for a baby. whew! lots going on, lots of plans being made.

but for tonight, it was a lovely night, hanging out in the apartment with my hubby and my dog, drinking a beer, having some dinner, enjoying a tea before bed... it's the simple things in life that make you appreciate what you have. i am one lucky girl.

i'll leave you with a photo my sister took about 10 days ago at cannon beach. it has quickly become one of my favorite pictures ever. i love my little family!

chad and fife are in the air!

well, chad and fife are somewhere over the south pacific as we speak. their auckland to l.a. flight took off about 2.5 hours ago and they are due into l.a. around 7.00 a.m.

alison sent me a photo of them at the airport.... doesn't my little girl look ready to fly?!!! i hope all the american dogs over here understand her kiwi accent! :-)


i am so excited to see them, i can hardly stand it!

chad and fife arrive tomorrow!!!!!!!

i'm doing my little happy dance! it has been 5 months since i've seen chad and 8 months since i've seen fife. it's long overdue to have our little family back together again. i'm hoping they love oregon as much as i do!!

please pray that the flights go ok and that fife travels well. i'm a bit worried about her being in a crate for so long, especially since she hasn't spent much time in it at home. my fingers are crossed for a safe and happy arrival.

every day is a good day

today was team in training saturday run, week 3. we did 6 miles (48.17) in the quaint little area around ne 33rd near grant track. i had the pleasure of running with a gentleman named bob jordan, who lost his 5 1/2 year old daughter to leukemia about 13 years ago.

before our run, bob and his wife spoke about the moment they took their daughter to the doctor, presumably for a cold, and heard her diagnosis. they talked about the hospital visits, the chemo, the cute little things their daughter did that they have burned into their memories.

for example, i learned that bob has done 33 marathons and 13 (?) ironman triathlons. one of his major goals was to qualify for the hawaii ironman. apparently they have a lottery system, so bob was going that route to get in. around the time of his birthday, he applied. his daughter wanted to get him a present and knew that the only thing he wanted at the time (aside from her getting better, of course) was to qualify. so, with the help of bob's wife, little emily drafted a letter explaining that she was in the hospital and why, and that she wanted to give her dad the one thing he wanted most - a spot in the hawaii ironman. what committee can resist that? bob obviously got a spot in the 1997 event. however, little emily went into a coma and died 4 days later. this was six months out from the event, so he poured his heart into his training and was actually featured on cbs news with this wonderful human interest story. what a great gift from his late daughter.

(read the story on the ironman website here)

but i must say that for all bob has been through, he is the most positive man i have ever met. you know what he said to me today?

"since we last saw emily and last walked out of that hospital, i have vowed that every day is going to be a good day. i can't have another bad day, because i know what a bad day is really like."

i think that is an incredibly amazing perspective and goes along with the first post that i put on my blog - start really living, we're really dying. we are not on this earth for very long. the things that we think are worth getting all bent out of shape about really aren't worth getting bent out of shape at all. who cares about traffic jams, financial issues, having to get up for work on a monday morning, not having anything to wear... whatever it is, it doesn't matter.

what matters is that we are healthy, we have a support system of friends and family, we have jobs, we have a roof over our heads and food in our fridge. we have a lot of things that many, many people in life simply don't have.

my goal for my life is to live like bob -
every day is a good day.

i might be getting old...

so i went to the eye doctor today for the second time in my life. (the first time was at age 11 in 1992.) the doctor confirmed what i already knew, that my right eye is quite near-sighted and apparently my left eye is compensating for the right one. i have increasingly struggled to see things far away and at night over the last couple of years. sitting in front of the computer all day, every day hasn't caused it, but it certainly hasn't helped.

all this leads to - yes, you guessed it - glasses. luckily i don't need to wear them all the time - just while driving and when going to any activities when i need to see something far away (sporting event, concert, etc.).

my friend julie sent me a facebook comment tonight. she reminded me that i made fun of her last summer for wearing glasses, but also for her anti-wrinkle cream. damn, that is what is coming; it's all creeping in now. i'll be a glasses-wearing, anti-wrinkle-cream-using, gray-hair-sporting old person sooner than i think. lol.

lucky for me, i believe in "we're only as old as we feel." :-)

who is at YOUR dinner table?

This blog post from wine PR guru Tom Wark is awesome. I feel like I'm on the same wavelength.

Click here to read Meditations on a Flat Surface

either i'm really good at predicting the future, or really good at making things happen...

i know this is post #2 today, but i had to share this!

i kind of had to chuckle at myself today when i came across this blog posting i put up about 2.5 years ago. i was bound and determined to get back to the states. who know it would actually happen right about the time i said it would? just one month off!

Monday, July 9, 2007
2009.....countdown to America!!!

chad and i had a nice long chat yesterday and laid it all out on the table. we are going to go ahead with this house - only because we got an appraisal on it and we can make $120,000 profit off of it. we'd be stupid not to do it. so, we're going to say here for two more years - enough time to build the house and then hock it off to some unsuspecting soul. ;-) chad also started his new job when we got back from the u.s. and told his boss he'd give him at least two years, so it would be rude to leave earlier.

but the plan is to do a vintage in oregon in 2009 and take it from there. that would mean august 2009, but then chad said why stay in central otago for the winter (good point!), so potentially we could be back by may 2009. that will work itself out later, but the important thing is that we have an "end date" and we'll have enough money behind us to establish ourselves with a house and, potentially, a small business. (yeah!)

i think this post is fitting since chad and fife will literally be on a plane in one week to come to oregon to live and work!! unfortunately, we didn't manage to "hock our house off to some unsuspecting soul," but it will happen. we'll just rent it out in the meantime and be poor - but poor and in love! :-)

i felt like i'd lost an arm!

today, on my way out the door for a meeting, i discovered that i didn't have my cell phone. oh, where, oh where could my little phone have gone? i then proceeded to sit through a three hour marketing meeting before going home to see if i could find it. it was nowhere to be found. my coworker called it - nothing. i got back to my office, called it - nothing.

panic set in because, if i'm truly honest, i am a cell phone addict. i am a facebook addict. i am a compulsive email checker. my phone rivals my appendages - losing my phone is like losing my arm.

not to mention that i was thinking how expensive it could be to buy a new one. or what if someone had my phone and was making 3 hours calls to kenya? (yes, this is what goes on in my mind... i'm a worry wort. i was in panic mode.)

thankfully, i have the world's best roommates and we located the phone through the powers of facebook.

honestly, what did one ever do before facebook and cell phones existed? i imagine it was a much less ulcer-inducing time in history.

start living... we are really dying

the church I attend started a 5 week series the other day about "really living." what would you do if you had 6 months left to live? tim mcgraw's song "live like you were dying" was played and i couldn't believe what a great gift i had been given that day - to be reminded that we are not here forever. take advantage of the time god has given you - seize the day, carpe diem and all that. i think we all know in the back of our minds that we should "just do it" instead of "putting it off until someday," but we all get caught up in our daily lives and simply forget. before we know it, "someday" turns into "6 months left to live." so, i am reminded - stop waiting for "someday" and make things happen.

i have to admit that i really enjoy my life right now. like everyone, that feeling sometimes slips away (think "i hate monday mornings!" and "why don't i have more money?" and "i wish i had more vacation time."). i am definitely very guilty of that.

but isn't it great to know that you have a bed to get out of on Monday mornings, that you have a roof over your head, running water, food... that you even have a job to go to when so many others don't right now?

isn't it great to know that you have two legs that work, that you even have the physical ability to go to the gym and work out? isn't is great to know that you are healthy. that your car, however crappy you think it might be, was not in the car accident that i witnessed on i-5 a few days ago? that you made it home safely from work, the gym, the grocery store... to tuck yourself into your comfortable bed?

isn't it great to know that we have loved ones in our lives who will be there for us in case something unthinkable ever did happen to us?

i, for one, am very thankful. i'm so glad that i have the opportunity to run a half marathon, that i have fantasic friends and a supportive and loving family, that i have a great job that i truly enjoy... and if i ever start complaining, i give you all permission to smack me upside the head and bring me to my senses.

to close, i'll leave you with the chorus in tim mcgraw's song, live like you were dying, and my bucket list (at least for the next five years):

i went skydiving,
i went rocky mountain climbing,
i went two point seven seconds on a bull named fu man chu,
and i loved deeper,
and i spoke sweeter,
and i gave forgiveness i'd been denyin'

and he said, someday i hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying


my bucket list
- run a half marathon, a marathon, an olympic duathlon, and the hood to coast relay at least once
- buy a dslr camera and learn how to use it (instead of sitting back and coveting beautiful photography, why not do it myself?)
- finally take a cheese-making course (or 10)
- buy an around the world ticket and travel for weeks, if not months, to south america, eastern europe, central america and maybe asia if there's time... hike macchu picchu... walk on the great wall of china
- roadtrip across the united states with my mom and sister
- ride in a hot air balloon and a helicopter with my husband
- climb at least one mountain - even mt. hood would be awesome
- go bungee jumping, and not the woosie 40 meter one either
- hike and camp non-stop with my husband and our dog, because when it comes down to it, sharing nature with my favorite people truly makes me happiest
- and what the heck - go skydiving again, but this time from the highest elevation possible