Adventures of Rachele - Fun

Snowshoeing!

nospam@example.com (Rachele Cawaring) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:36:23 -0700

Last weekend, Bethany and I donned our snowshoes and took Neah out in the snow. I totally forgot how hard it is! We were hiking up the trail, and I was breathing hard after 15 minutes of climbing. Just the act of lifting my legs up higher made the adventure more challenging. It was so fun and so beautiful that day. We actually soaked in 2 hours of sun while we were on the trail and Neah got to play.

I left Dixon at home since I really didn't want to struggle with trying to have him "walk nicely" while there were other dogs around. He has a new toy fox that he sleeps with.

Happy Birthday, Heidi!

nospam@example.com (Rachele Cawaring) — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:09:01 -0700

Yes, it was a landmark birthday for Heidi...30! I had visions of grandeur. My 30th was fairly low key, so I was going to make up for it by throwing a party for Heidi. The theme was 70's and we were going to bring back our childhood and do a scavenger hunt. Well, I was overly optimistic with what I could accomplish that week. Between work, spending quality time with friends, and exercise, I didn't leave much time to dream up a fun scavenger hunt. I was already living off of borrowed sleep time. So, Lily and I were the only ones dressed in 70's garb. Oh, and the scavenger hunt was ditched. It just didn't seem like fun in the heavy rain.

I must say that hosting this party was a breeze. I am blessed with such wonderful friends and they all helped so much to make this an excellent birthday party. Mel & Richard brought in all the equipment and supplies for the bar. And everyone helped out. The strange part of the evening was when we decided to make an appearance at The Parlor. The place was packed! There was even a waiting list to get into another local bar. I have never seen that happen in Bellevue. So we ended the evening back at my place, watching figure skating before going to bed. Since Heidi skated competitively, it seemed like an appropriate end to the evening.

Don't worry, the scavenger hunt idea will be used again. You haven't heard the last of this one!

Valentine's Day

nospam@example.com (Rachele Cawaring) — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 21:07:20 -0700

This year's Valentine's Day was spent with friends: Tia, Heidi, Bill, Kim, and Dwight. All the girls received roses and we celebrated and laughed the entire time at El Gaucho.

Happy Birthday Mel!!!

nospam@example.com (Rachele Cawaring) — Wed, 7 Feb 2007 21:15:39 -0700

Mel & Richard

Last Friday, a small group gathered for Mel's birthday. I wasn't as diligent taking photos, so here's Mel, blowing out her candles. Homemade pizzas, Cupcake Royale, good friends and toasts to celebrate the year that Mel will qualify for Boston!!!

Women's Spa

nospam@example.com (Rachele Cawaring) — Mon, 8 Jan 2007 11:35:19 -0700

Last Saturday, a few of us went to the Olympus Spa in Lynnwood. This is a women's only spa that has whirpools at various temperatures, warm-hot saunas with different benefits, a Korean restaurant, and a tea ceremony room. The Spa is modelled after Korean women's bath houses. We walked in and the first thing I noticed was the cleanliness of the place. Shoes and socks are not permitted past the lobby. The only clothing allowed past the locker rooms are the robes and pink & white striped shower caps provided by the facility. I wish you could have seen the sea of women going in and out of the therapeutical pools, with only their shower caps on. Of course, I don't have any photos from the day. They are known for their exfoliating scrubs, which some of the girls had and loved. Be warned, that you can't be shy about your body if you plan on going.

I personally loved the energy rooms. We went after our long run, then stayed for hours. One room was the "Sand Room." The Sand Room had sand covered in canvas tarp, small pillows, dark lighting, and ocean background noise. The room was 150 degrees and you would lay down and meditate. It felt like being at the beach, lying in the sand, without the grit between your toes. The Salt room was simliar, but it was at 140 degrees...the salt conducts heat, so I had to turn occassionally since I felt like my skin was on fire! There were also Charcol, Mud & Jade, Elvan Stone, Cabin and a 60 degree Chill room. All the wet facilities, whirpools, steam rooms, scrubs and mugwort baths were in a different area.

The restaurant had good Korean food, but they were very understaffed and the service was extremely slow. Other than that, I would highly recommend going. They have a sister spa in Tacoma, but the Lynnwood one is their larger facility. I felt so relaxed and exhausted that I barely stayed awake when I got home and I had my best night's sleep of the year!

Cold Season is here!

nospam@example.com (Rachele Cawaring) — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 09:00:36 -0700

Now that I'm recovering from my marathon, I have a short break in training. I conveniently forget how fatigued I get the week after the race. I'm not sore (except for my knee injury), but I am sleepy when late afternoon arrives. My short recovery runs are also a little more labored than usual. It's pretty funny when 3-5 mile runs seem exhausting. From past races, I've noticed that moving around and walking really helps quicken the recovery time.

One of the benefits of this dip in training is my new found free time. Mel is tapering for NY and I am recovering from Chicago, so our runs were really short yesterday. We had time to have breakfast with friends and do errands in the morning, which is normally impossible when we're in the thick of training. We also had time to make care packages for our sick friends. We gathered fresh fruit, juice, cold medicine, soup and soft tissues for our home-bound friends. I have to admit that Mel did most of the work and I was just there to visit and add distraction. It's so nice to be able to slow down every once in a while and just sit with your friends.

So, Heidi & Richard, I hope you're getting a lot of rest and drinking your fluids. And please don't even think about exercising right now. I can't believe you even thought about running yesterday!

Wow, I don't recognize you!

nospam@example.com (Rachele Cawaring) — Sun, 1 Oct 2006 08:29:11 -0700

The girls at "Sip"

Yes, we had a social event on the Eastside. The funny thing is that this particular group of friends sees each other every week, but we're usually dripping with sweat and in our workout clothes. I didn't even recognize one of the women with makeup on! We all went to "Evita" at the Village Theater in Issaquah. If you've never been to the Village Theater, you really should check it out. The venue is intimate and every seat has a great view of the stage. Afterwards, we had dinner at "Sip" in the Issaquah Highlands. The wine bar/restaurant has only been open for two months, but it had a good sized crowd as the evening progressed. The food was light and fresh. For those of you that get cold, you'll love this...they have a large table by a very warm fireplace...heaven!

I stopped by quickly at Julie's big birthday party last night, but I had to leave early. Unfortunately, I still haven't completely recovered from food poisoning on Friday night. Dinner really isn't good the second time around. And it's frustrating that I can't exercise as much as I'd like because I'm so dehydrated! I had to settle for a little 8 mile run yeterday and a little hike today. Ugh!

Wicked

nospam@example.com (Rachele Cawaring) — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 14:21:16 -0700

Last Wednesday, we saw "Wicked" at the Parmount Theater. The musical is based on the 1995 book by Gregory Maquire. I knew the reviews were great, but I still was pleasantly surprised. They did an excellent job with the set and the music pieces. The whole concept of the book and movie is telling "The Wizard of Oz" movie from the Wicked Witch's perspective. It delves into the concepts of propoganda, the validity of historical stories, and the bottom line of needing to hear more than one perspective to understand the story.

One of the topics was the idea of focusing on a common enemy to unite people. In the play, The Wizard focuses on animals and the Wicked Witch as villians against the citizens of Oz. The targets were people or beings that were different than the majority. There were undertones of peer pressure to be accepted and popular. Also, the concept of good versus evil was interesting.

New Music/Friendly Competition

nospam@example.com (Rachele Cawaring) — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 21:21:07 -0700

Today I discovered a new music site that will take a song or artist you like, then recommend other songs/artists that are similar. This all came about when we were at a friend's house, creating a mix tape (the term mix CD just doesn't sound right). The site is Pandora.

It'll expose you to artists that you've probably have never heard of.

Also, I spent most of the afternoon laughing so hard that I was tearing and making snorting sounds. We put together round #2 of the dating bet between our two running friends. This all started a month ago when E. (first name is abreviated) started saying that dating is too scary and that she could never imagine ever asking a guy out on a date. Because of the good supportive friends we are, we had "E" compete with another one of her buddies (Let's call him "S") on seeing who can ask three people out first in the month of September. The prospective dates didn't have to say "yes," they just needed to get the courage to ask them out. "E" easily won over her other buddy, "S."

So, today we wrote a new October challenge where they have to gettwo people each to agree to go out on a date with them. We even wrote down several rules, so they wouldn't try to manipulate the "spirit" of the challenge. Two of us (myself and "W") will act as judges in case the two participants argue on the victory. The loser this time will have to sing, "Living La Vida Loca" in front of our track friends. If neither one completes the October challenge, they'll need to sing a duet of our (the judges) choosing. Also, if they both complete their tasks on the same day, we'll declare a tie, and this bet rolls into the month of November. Oh, it'll be a fun November for us!

Who's Normal?

nospam@example.com (Rachele Cawaring) — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:22:09 -0700

First of all, I haven't figured out how to properly format my entries and the inconsistency is bugging me.

I appologize to all the "aesthetically sensitive" people out there.

Wednesday night, I had three of my friends over for dinner. As a single person, it's a lot of fun to cook
for a group of friends since I feel that it's worth the effort to create different dishes. It was also interesting
since we're close enough to admit each other's eating quirks. We've run marathons together, seen each
other through tough times and shared our dreams...we're beyond the stage of politeness. So, the cooking
challenge for me was to figure out a menu where we'd all be >90% happy.

I knew one person was vegetarian and one person just started a high-protein/no refined sugar diet. So, my
strategy was to shout out questions as I cooked, such as "do you like eggplant?" Having them interact
with me made it a lot more entertaining and it became a game of how to solve the menu puzzle. Then
solution was to compartmentalize some of the dishes and make as much as possible from scratch, so I can
control the ingredients. We ended up with a nice tossed salad (I made an executive decision on this one
to lessen my stress. Plus, I was aiming for >90% happiness, not perfection). Whole wheat pasta with a
homemade marinara sauce, fresh mozarella and fresh basil. Grilled eggplant with olive oil and balsalmic
vinegar. I bought prepared pot roast from the grocery store, so there would be extra protein.
The guests had figs stuffed with blue cheese and bread to snack on. Also, one of the other girls was in
charge of dessert...simple! They also know that I have a compulsion to clean...dirty dishes in the sink make
me crazy crazier. It's nice to know that we all have our own quirks and issues. I'm so fortunate to have such
wonderful friends who let me just be me, and who kick my butt when I get off track.

We shared each of our vision boards and will follow up after the Chicago Marathon to see how things are
going. Already, some weird coincidences have been happening, so it'll be interesting to track this
experiment as it unfolds. We each had work/business/finance, realtionship and athletic goals.