The dreaded dentist.

How many people out there have been reading this blog for years? Remember that one time back in 2005 when I didn't have dental insurance because I didn't think I needed it? Oh yeah, and I got A HOLE IN MY TOOTH (aka: my first cavity) that turned out to be a $2K, eleven cavity debacle.

Oh yes, wasn't that fun! See here for that story if you want to really want to dig into the archives of this blog!

Well, yesterday I had my semi-annual dentist appointment. The cleaning and check for cavities visit that I dilligently go to without fail. I don't dread these so much anymore since I now do have dental insurance and actually go to the dentist twice a year... and brush and floss every day. The thing I do dread about the dentist?

Exhibit A.

And exhibit B, also known as the horse pills that precede the dentist appointments.

As I found out from my dental experiment back in 2005, if you have a heart murmur (which, coincidentally I do) and you disclose that fact (which I did), you have to take 2000 (TWO THOUSAND!!) milligrams of antibiotics before you go in for any dental work. 2000mg seems like it could possibly cure a small village from an infection.

I know most of you are thinking, WHAT?!

Basically, if any bacteria gets into your bloodstream from the dental work, which it can because of the myriad of bacteria in your mouth, it can re-circulate in your heart (because of the murmur) and kill you. The dentist in 2005 that originally told me this asked me if I had a death wish for never having had taken antibiotics before. Lovely.

LIKE I WOULD KNOW I was supposed to disclose a heart murmur to a dentist!! Seriously?! Not to mention it's a VERY slight murmur that I've had, since, oh, BIRTH. Apparently that doesn't matter.

There's a lot of research now that says you don't necessarily have to take the antibiotics anymore for dental work if you just have a murmur. But to get the ok from the dentist you have to get cleared by your cardiologist. And seriously? I'm 28 years old... the cardiologist is the LAST doctor I want to go to right now.

Last time I went was about 8 years ago when I had heartburn and thought I was having a heart attack, you know because I was being a slight hypochondriac. That was a weird experience too.... I think Iowa had that affect on me. Anyway, at that cardiologist, I sat in the waiting room with ANCIENT people that looked like they really might need to be in a hospital and people that were about 250 pounds overweight. And I was just a 20 year old skinny girl that everyone was looking at like, "hey, do you work here? Can you help me?" It was AWKWARD. Even the doctor came in and looked at me like, Seriously, dude, you are insane and not to mention the youngest person I've seen in here in YEARS. Anyway, they did all the heart work (basically because I did have a murmur and I guess it's good to get it checked out) and they ok'd my murmur. They could barely even hear it actually!

But going to that cardiologist was in Iowa and my dentist here in Washington is OLD.SCHOOL. Meaning, if I want to get my teeth cleaned and avoid the 11 cavity debacle all over again, I better take the damn antibiotics, or gravel with that cardiologist in Iowa that probably threw away my records 5 years ago, or find a new cardiologist here (NO thanks).

And not to mention, I got sort of scared shitless by that Iowa dentist who asked if I had a death wish by not taking antibiotics. So I do it. Begrudgingly.

And after the fact?

I'm cavity free with a clean (dental) bill of health. And I am probably immune to catching any sort of infection for the next few weeks two while these horse pills are coursing through my system.

Broken.

I've broken myself again.

Consistent with the stupidity I displayed over the weekend in playing too hard, I continued on the same track in my workouts. Despite being EXHAUSTED monday, I worked out hard. I ran 2 miles and lifted weights for over an hour. It actually is one of the tricks I use when I'm tired. If you're tired as hell, workout. I guarantee you, you'll feel like a million bucks afterwards. Of course, that's not to say I wasn't passing out on my couch at 7pm but still...

Anyway, I digress. Back to the story- yesterday, since it WAS Tuesday, I decided to run. Even though I clocked probably over 20 miles over the weekend which I don't usually do because I go hiking. BUT since I wanted to spend the majority of the days at the beach, I opted for running.

I should have taken Tuesday off. I KNOW. I knew this. Especially considering that I felt a slight twinge of discomfort in my right calf/tendon. I KNOW! BUT OF COURSE, why would I pay attention to this? It doesn't fit my stubborn nature to actually listen to my body.

Actually, I told myself that I was listening and was only going to run 3 miles. But then, true to that stubborn nature coupled with my love for running, once I started, I didn't stop.

6 miles later that twinge in my foot was a full blown OH FUCK, JENN YOU ARE AN IDIOT.

I will not be running the rest of this week.

Hi bike, remember me? We are going to be good friends this week. It's been a while but I'm sure we'll make up the lost time. Right?

Days reminiscent of Arizona.

...With a little bit of added green. And certainly not July Arizona days when it's 4 million degrees outside. Dry heat, baby, dry heat.... the motto of anyone living in Arizona, including me when I was there.

In Seattle right now, I'll take any heat especially of the 85 degree totally sunny variety. In that vein, I took off the majority of Friday to enjoy the awesome weather we are having up here in Seattle. And Saturday and Sunday followed suit. Friday I started off doing a bit of work, then heading promptly to the beach, then working out, then playing at night. Saturday I went running, then went the beach, then played at night. Sunday? You guessed it, same pattern: running, beach (although sunday I went out on a boat, even better!), then played at night...and playing on Sunday night meant going to the Seattle Sounders game (soccer) and then to a local bar in pioneer square afterwards for some pool and more drinks.

LET ME JUST SAY.

My logic for playing harder Sunday night than Saturday night was just a little flawed. Two words: BRUTAL. MONDAY. Monday hit me like 400 pounds of bricks and I essentially stared at my computer all day wondering why I thought it was such a brilliant idea to spend 3 straight days in the sun and ending all of that madness with a soccer game complete with many beers (beer, yes, I said beer) and a 2am shot of 126 proof bourbon and a wake up call at 5:30am for the workday. I swear, I used to be more intelligent. Oh wait, maybe not. Maybe I've reverted back to my stupider days. Only problem is that in my younger, more stupid days I could handle the abuse of my body better. So yes, brutal Monday. But was it worth it? Oh YES! I was not very camera happy this weekend because I was too busy playing and getting tan but I did manage to take all of about 3 pictures. Look at these amazing shots:


At the Kirkland waterfront on Friday... You can see the Seattle skyline from here. Gorgeous.

And another one. It actually looks about the same as the last one. But I included it since it was one of the three pictures I actually took.

And looking north of Seattle from the Seattle waterfront.

Oh this. Oh yeah. I forgot one tiny detail of my weekend. When I went out to the boat on Sunday? Well, APPARENTLY I parked illegally. Huh. GOOD THING I parked amongst about 100 other cars in a zone that WAS NOT marked no parking. That's convenient that there were no signs and I got a parking ticket... as did 100 other people. Oh well, it was only $45... but the thing that REALLY pisses me off is that it's a "traffic" ticket so it can go against my record. Bastards! Oh well, I will just pay it and move on. It's just hard evidence of the fun weekend I had... especially since I had no more than 3 pictures to display the same.

Running and running...

This week was a GREAT week for running. I got in 3 really good runs without any pain. Yes! That's the goal every week for my running days. This week I ran Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday I biked.

The run on monday: 6.18 miles. Pretty good.

Tuesday I did a shorter run: 5 miles. Thursday I did a little over 7 miles. I forgot to take a picture of that one. Not like the pictures are that entertaining but I figure it's a little bit better to have some hard evidence rather than listen to me ramble and ramble about my runnings... My runs on Monday and Tuesday were both at about a 6 minute mile pace. On Thursday I added in more interval training. Gotta love those intervals.

To stop talking about the running, here are a couple of shots of some more summer flowers that I thought were pretty cool looking:

Animal happenings...

For any one that cares about the slight animal farm that exists in my life, here are a few shots from July that explains it all:

Calvin the dog, er, cat playing with the dog toy....

Bella the pig, er, dog, playing in DISGUSTING water. You'd think that it would make sense to stop her but whatever. At some point you just throw up your hands and give her a long bath to wash off the stink when she's had her fun in the mud.

The pup with her favorite toy...laying in the shade because she is an animal that fits perfectly in Seattle and does NOT enjoy the hot days. Tyson the gray cat is MIA because, well, he's a true cat and is awkward as hell and never really around unless you catch him during his 2 hours of pacing up and down the hallways every night.

Summer wine

It's summer in Seattle which means a) sunshine (well, eventually) b) no busy season and c) as a result of both: happy hours outside. There's a slight misconception that us crazy people in this accounting profession drink more during busy season but I would beg to differ. I think we start drinking on April 15, then take a week or so to catch up on a serious sleep deficit and THEN spend the summer catching up to our real life which often times entails many, many happy hours and barbecues with friends. Lately I've partaken in my fair share of these catching up with friends events... there's been a lot of wine and a lot of laughter. And it's made even better by spending the time soaking up the sun on a patio. Funny to think that in Arizona, I took the sitting on the patio thing for granted. Too bad I didn't totally document all of the good wine I've had lately but here are a couple of shots I've managed to take...

The above glass was a merlot. Perfectly light and great for a red, summer wine.

A tough day at the office

One of my clients has a HUGE golf tournament every year during the summer. I haven't attended before as I always had other scheduling conflicts but this year I was able to go and "man" a hole. It was GREAT because I basically just got to hang out with the marketing gal and a tax gal from my firm and talked with all of the golfers coming through...many of which I knew just from working with the client. There were SO MANY people though... there were 36 groups of 4 so it was a rather long day since there were so many people and we had to get to the hole early to set up all of our gear.

And I should mention- this tournament? Was in ORTING. HUH? That was my first question as soon as I heard about the tournament- where the hell is Orting? As I found out, a little over an hour southeast of Seattle in a town that reminds me distinctly of Iowa. Once we made it to Orting, we got our little booth set up and laid out on the tee box where we could talk to everyone who came through so they would know who we were, if they didn't already. It was the best day... BEAUTIFUL weather coupled with getting to talk while spending time in the sun was just awesome. I neglected to take any pictures while we were at the tournament (which I probably couldn't post here anyway)... but I did snap a couple of shots of amazing Rainier on our way home after the tourney. Here is one:

Rainier is absolutely HUGE down in the south end, obviously, since you're closer to it down there. These clear, warm days are the reason that living in Washington is worth it...especially when it's my job to spend the day out in it.

Girls night

Last night a couple of cute girls and I got together for girls night... complete with mixed drinks, of course...True sex and the city style, though I'm not totally sure we were really going for that. We (well, Jenn...the other Jenn) made giant frozen cosmopolitans and whole fruit margaritas (which, by the way, were AMAZING). We also ate and ate and ate... traveled down to a local bar for more drinks and food and just well, had girl time. It was fabulous. And much needed. Of course after a few drinks, I neglected the picture taking but did manage to take two:

Miss Renee...chatting away enjoying our drinks.

A shot of the giant frozen cosmopolitan. Mmmmm.

Signs of summer...

It's mid July and finally starting to feel just a touch like summer up here in the pacific northwest. And more than that, it's looking like it too! Below are some of the summer sights lined up in the backyard right now... only thing we are missing is just a little more heat and sun...

I really love the blue/purple hues of these flowers. I think it's an awesome combo against the green. It makes me think of a summer wedding.

Can I just say that it's just a slight miracle that I haven't killed these damn tomatoes yet?!

AND LOOK AT THIS ONE! THREE whole tomatoes. Insane. The girl without a green thumb may just have a little inkling of hope yet.

Evidence of a Tired Dog.

After spending the day at the Favorite Place Saturday and hiking 9 miles yesterday coupled with beach time, I had an extremely exhausted pup on my hands... I was CRACKING up. Pictures tell the story best:

An unusual sleeping position in the car on the way to the beach after hiking.

Completely passed out cold in the sun.

Once we got home from the beach, I told her to go potty. This is what I got. Immediately sleeping on grass.

I took a shower and came out to find her laying like this. Snoring. Looks comfortable, eh?

Another angle of the comfortable position.

Once I blow dried my hair, I told her to come downstairs with me. Evidently, she could only make it down a few and stopped to sleep on the bottom steps.

And after eating dinner (which she barely wanted to do because of the effort it took.... a CRAZY phenomenon given that this is the dog who eats in 2.5 seconds), she passed out again. Before even making it to her bed. I'd say she was pretty wiped out.

Seven eleven.

What a boring title, huh? Bella and I had a great day yesterday. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep Saturday night but was determined to have an active day yesterday. So we got out of the house around 9am and headed straight for the mountains...ok, wait, I did stop at ladro for an iced tea and had to stop at Target for a blowdryer (another post)... We did this hike, all 9-ish miles of it. And it was SO much more beautiful than last time. Guess that's what happens on clear days.

About half way up- a view of Mount Si. Gorgeous.

I had some boys take our pictures at the halfway up point. I was a sweaty disaster but it's dark so you can't tell.

We couldn't get a picture where both Bella and I were looking at the camera. Oh well.

And at the top- around mile 4.3. I was BLOWN AWAY. We didn't see anything last time since the weather was so crappy.

At the very top, we had another view of Si. Again, breathtaking.

Bella was a HOT DOG. We ran down the whole mountain, lapping people that had only gone to mile 2 that we'd passed on the way up. After spending the day at her Favorite Place the day before, she was a little trooper to keep up.

After that adventure, where else would we head but the beach? If it's sunny and warm, the only things we do is hike and beach. The end. So we went to the dog friendly beach where she can get in the water to swim to cool off. I think I made her swim 3 times yesterday. She doesn't love swimming but it does make her cool and she drinks the water, which she likes.

Hanging out on the towel sunbathing.

Ha, and a typical summer bikini shot from yours truly. But this beach has grass, not sand. I know, it was weird for me too when I first moved up here.

I was supposed to go out with a friend last night for dinner but she had to cancel because she ended up having to pull an all nighter for work (YUCK). BUT, before I heard from her, I had showered and dried my hair so I took the opportunity to take some hair shots that were not so icky after working out. Of course, you'll have to excuse the no-make up face and gym clothes and crappy lighting with the phone picture. Just look at the hair.

And the other side.... It's really hard to take pictures of yourself, I've decided. After all of that, I just enjoyed the nice summer night. And by "enjoy" I mean I made a batch of these cookies after already eating dinner and ate about 2 million of them. All 2 million were delicious. On a serious note, seven eleven has always been a special day to me. Seven years ago on July 11, I was in Lamoni and I was proposed to and subsequently got engaged to my college sweetheart. It was such a happy, happy time. I could never have envisioned all of the changes and hurdles and heartache...and even laughter and love...that followed that day. On that day, the world was ours for the taking and we were flying high, the happiest people in the world. It will always hold a special place in my heart regardless of the two separate, but respectively amazing, roads we are on now and there is never a July 11 that passes without me taking a moment to remember July 11, 2003.

Another summer day?

The weather here has been GORGEOUS all week. Like, four whole days in a row. We are starting to get out of control up here in the northwest. Due to the awesome weather, the decision was made to take Bella to her FAVORITE PLACE so that we could go to the non-dog beach again in Seattle and do some hiking beforehand as well.

I took this shot as I was driving down the road to the Favorite Place. It was about 7.30 in the morning and I just thought the clouds looked so cool against the backdrop of the evergreens.

Miss Bella eagerly awaiting our destination where she could go nuts with gusto.

It's a little bit farmy out by the Favorite Place. I never knew there were cows out here.... perhaps they hide in the crappy weather?

Pulling into happy hound hotel... the Favorite Place. At this point, Bella starts to go ballistic. After dropping her off (and by dropping off I mean, she jets out of the car at 100 miles per hour and molests anyone in her path with licks and jumps and pure boxer craziness), I got home, we ate a small breakfast, stopped at Ladro (of course!) and headed out to the faux hike that I mentioned in a previous post. We did about 8 miles there. AND GUESS WHAT. I got attacked. See:

The entire arm is red due to that little red spot slightly to the right of the freckle. A giant black fuzzy bee decided to sting my arm. I didn't even DO anything! I have never been stung before and let me just say: HOLY F-ING SHIT, that fucking hurts!!! I never knew that "sting" was actually the appropriate word. It STUNG like a bitch for the better part of a few hours. That sucked. But apparently I'm not allergic and didn't die so we were able to finish the hike with only some mild, er, maybe not so mild ranting from me on how bad bee stings hurt.

After the hike, we headed promptly to Madison beach which was PACKED. Literally there were people about 2 inches from us on all sides. It was so much fun. Perfect beach day. I even got a little pink, I'm sad to say. In Phoenix my skin was actually USED to the sun so I would just tan. After leaving the beach we headed for a quick stop at whole foods and then back to the Favorite Place to pick up Miss Thang.

Once I got home, we realized why I also love the Favorite Place. Tired dog. Perfect.

New Hair.

Friday I had an appointment to spend a couple of hours at the salon. I was getting my highlights "updated" as is typical every 6-8 weeks and I was also getting my hair chopped. I love my salon and the girl that I go to so it's always fun to spend a couple of hours there.

After I left the salon, I went back to work for a while which was EXCRUTIATING. It was GORGEOUS outside. 80 degrees, sunny. And driving on the boulevard, the beaches were just jam packed. But, alas, I was a good girl... actually I was more just motivated by the fact that I had a workout at the gym later that afternoon and had to be there anyway (which is in the same building as my office). While at the gym, I had the idea to snap a couple of hair pictures... of course, I remembered AFTER my workout so I apologize for the post workout hair. It was way better before. Oh well.

Picture #1 of the short hair.

And the other side. I'll try to remember to take more pictures this weekend once it's not so post-workout funky. I kinda like it this length. It's fun, light and summery.