A lake of sweat.

After my little adventure the Friday before, I was still feeling a little crazy. Crazy being the operative word here. I mean, let's talk seriously. How crazy can crazy really be when I'm a CPA living in the suburbs?

So, on Monday night I decided to go to hot yoga. Yoga isn't new to me. I've been practicing yoga for the better part of 10 years... and by the better part, I basically mean I used to practice it faithfully at LEAST 4 times a week, if not every day at one point. And then about 5ish years ago I started working more/doing yoga less and then I moved and then I worked more/did yoga even less, and then I started running more and weight lifting more and essentially stopped yoga altogether. This all meant one thing: If someone even TOUCHES my leg muscles they will snap. They are that tight. So instead of using yoga as a source to stretch and breathe as I used to use it for, I just stopped it altogether. I decided I was so inflexible that I would just keep being inflexible instead of living with what I thought would be the torture of trying to become flexible again.

I know, this is stupid. It makes no sense to me either as I'm writing it.

But Monday I decided that it was the random day I was going to resume my much missed yoga practice. And not just any yoga- HOT yoga. Hot yoga is yoga that takes place in a +100 degree, 40% humidity room. It's supposed to mimic the conditions that are practiced elsewhere in the world where yoga originated. It also serves to release and detoxify the physical body while you are also detoxifying the mind through breathing. Basically, it's just freaking hot as hell.

And, in all my brilliant craziness, I didn't do the slower paced Hatha yoga, nope, I went balls out- power yoga. Power hot yoga for the first time really genuinely doing yoga in about 2 years. I guess that's how I roll? Or perhaps it's what crazy means for someone who, really, isn't inherently crazy at all.

At the end of the day?

I was SHOCKED to realize that my body really adapted to the heat and in the heat became so much more pliable and flexible. I was talking to the instructor after class and even she couldn't believe that this was my first time doing hot yoga and that I hadn't been practicing yoga at all for such a long while (hey, I'll take that as a compliment!) All of that being said, I absolutely LOVED it. But holy hell, I'm pretty sure I have never in my life sweat so much. Even running in Phoenix in 100 degrees- did not sweat this much. I was literally DRIPPING sweat from every pore on my body. My clothes were soaked through. Puddles surrounded me. At least I wasn't as bad as the guy in front of me who had literal geysers running down his face and head everytime we moved and serious ponds of sweat surrounding him (gross). Oh... but, it felt so good.

I can't wait to go back and to add this to my weekly workouts a couple of times a week. I cannot believe how much I've missed yoga... and that I didn't jump on the hot yoga train until now. I love the sweating and detoxifying from the hotness of this particular practice and I had (stupidly) forgotten how much yoga really does center and ground me into breathing, relaxing and really listening to my body. I've been completely missing out. In more ways than one. 

One of the weirdest days ever.

OH MY GOSH. Where do I even start?

I think I woke up last Friday morning as a crazy person. Is this even possible? I don't know.

No, really, I think I did. Or maybe it was the day before and then Friday I had to suffer the results. Who knows. See, I already sound crazy. In about 10 sentences. Just wait.

So, last Friday I had scheduled two appointments. 1) Waxing 2) Acupuncture. Both within an hour of each other. Seemingly normal, right? Wrong.  Both insane.

#1. Let's just start with waxing. And this might be TMI so if it is, move on to #2 (which might also be TMI, so maybe you should just skip this post altogether. Your choice).

Anyway.

I've been waxed before. We all have, right, ladies? Eyebrows, bikini, whatever. Fine. I've had brazilians before... you know for those of you who might be living in a box, you take away all of the hair down there (the appropriate term would be vagina) so you look like you're 12. But if you don't like hair it's a pretty sweet deal. No shaving, no costs of laser, just temporary pain. The costs of beauty, perhaps.

And yes, OUCH.

So, I had a living social deal where I got a waxing service at a severely discounted price at a local place here in Kirkland. Cool. I'd given up waxing, ahem, down south, a while ago because a) I never wear a swim suit here (see probably about 8 of the 10 past posts where I incessantly bitch about Seattle's weather) and b) since I am always pretty much in long underwear, jeans, and uggs, who the hell even cares? If my boyfriend is fine with a shave, I'm perfectly happy with that as well. Meaning, I don't have to endure the waxing pain.

But, I got this deal, and thought, I'm getting married and then going to live in a bikini for a week in Hawaii, I don't want to shave.

I AM CRAZY.

I was just going to do the bikini line but once in there? "Oh, go ahead, just take it all off."

Again, CRAZY.

Has anyone out there been waxed after not being waxed in a long time? OH MY FREAKING BLOODY HELL.  There are no words.

Vanity and convenience HURTS. Especially after you've forgotten just how badly. Two words: involuntarily crying. It was not pretty.

But now "it" is. Was it worth it? For $30, yeah, I guess so. But still. OW.

Lesson #1.

#2) I also scheduled an acupuncture appointment this same day. An hour after the wax start time. Why? Because it was convenient, they are about a block away from each other. Made sense. I've been seeing an acupuncturist for a while now and haven't talked about it much here. I know I have written before about how I feel with the whole eastern/western medicine thing. Let's just say now, for simpleness, that I firmly believe in the power of eastern medicine and acupuncture and lining up of qi ("chee", meaning energy within the body). And that I also believe there is a time and place for Western medicine but it's often abused. I will not get on my soap box.

Ahem. Focus.

So, acupuncture. Why acupuncture?

I went off the pill a few months ago. Oh my goodness, I feel 400 tangents coming all at once. Quick one here- went off the pill because I HATE IT. It was making me feel looney, making my body whacky and the more I read and researched about it, the more I hated it. So I started doing the rhythm method of birth control- taking temperatures every morning and several other things to get my body "aligned" and in tune and back into its own cycle. WELL worth it when you consider the side effects of the pill.

Well.

The pill really fucks things up. That's the nicest way I can say that.

Shocker, I know.

Almost 6 months later and I still have yet to have a period. And have been experiencing some CRAZY emotions. Like, really? I thought I knew hormones before. Um perhaps this whacked out hormones were what made me schedule these two torture sessions back to back? Just a thought.

So- the hormones.

Currently I go for 4 weeks feeling like I might be in freaking menopause, then to feel like I've effectively been through menopause and there's absolutely no action... I could be 75 years old for all I know. No hormones whatsoever. And then all of a sudden, one day BAM! Everythinghitmeallatonce... meaning, breakouts, bloating, bawling because, oh, I don't know, the sun's in the wrong place in the freaking sky, who the hell even knows. But no period. It's like Christmas eve without ever getting to Christmas all the f-ing time around here. Build up build up build up... then, nothing.

And this is not abnormal. Especially for someone who a) exercises a lot and has low body fat and b) has been on the pill for way too long.

It's also incredibly obnoxious. And I have an advantage because I DO eat well and take care of my body. I cannot imagine what this process would be if I was shit out of shape and ate like crap, too. Actually, I wouldn't want to. I don't know what I would do if that were the case but I picture myself lying on the floor requesting someone to shoot me (only slightly over dramatic).

So, to end that tangent- my normal acupuncturist tried to jump start the whole period thing (meaning, no more "lack" of blood- there's some formal term for it). She did acupuncture treatments, oils (I rubbed geranium on my feet every night for about 2.5 months... so that our bedroom smelled like a damn flower herb garden. I think Justin was trying to be nice when he said he liked the smell). I took some cornmeal consistency type of supplement that basically just sticks to your mouth and makes you feel like you ate a wad of playdough at the end of trying to chew it... and probably tastes much worse. It was supposed to build my liver up or something (somehow this is linked to my period?)

When all of this didn't work, she referred me to her colleague who specializes in women's health/fertility (no, we're not trying to get pregnant but it's the same field... you know, one day it might be nice). He's more of a herbalist as well and can really help in this arena. Great. Since that's right by my waxing, I'll just schedule both together. Wow, took a long time to get to the point of that, eh?

So, after waxing, I headed to see this new acunpunturist guy.

Well, if my body wasn't already on overload from having a million hairs yanked out of it's most sensitive region, it sure as hell wanted to die after the acupuncture treatment from this new referral guy, I cannot even come close to explaining.

YOU GUYS, I'm not kidding, this treatment was just INTENSE. I don't know if it was partially due to the fact that I just came from waxing or just the new guy/different methods, or what but I simultaneously wanted to puke and pass out on the table when not even all points were in me yet. WHAT IN THE HELL?! I drifted in and out of consciousness as the points were "setting" (not sure if that's the correct term) and I remember him coming back in to talk to me and I remember responding but could not tell you for the life of me what in the hell he was asking. And then at one point I remember thinking, I wonder how I could puke if all these points are in? But oh crap, then they'll fall out and I'll die and I'll be on that 50 weirdest ways to die show. Oooh, I know, maybe I'll just puke through the face cradle.. that would be lovely. (OH and all of this not to mention, I've only puked TWICE in my adult life. You guys know my thing with puke!) So, that I was even CONSIDERING it, means I was pretty far gone. So then I'm having these vivid dreams that go back to my childhood and I'm drifting in and out and thinking I might puke then not. Oh hell, I'll just pass out again. Then jolt awake, "OH shit, I'm going to puke, how do I DO THAT?" Then, rapid heartbeak, sweaty palms, ohfuckohfuckohfuck, then the feeling goes away and I resign myself to passing out again/having weird childhood dreams.

CAH-RAZY. I mean, seriously, I have never experienced anything like that. Ever.

He comes back in after god knows how long and removes the points and does some weird chinese back treatment for some back pain I've been having (remember, I mentioned this) and I'm on my way.

Ha.

Except.

I literally felt for the next three hours like I was both hungover and high. At the same time. It was TRIPPY. I went back to work and remember asking simple questions that normally I would know the answers to and having my staff look at me like, WHAT? (they later told me I was in rare form. And it was hilarious. Hmm. You don't SAY). Finally about 4 hours later I felt like eating, so I did, and decided there was no way in hell I would be working out that day. Instead, water and rest. It was INSANITY.

Lesson #2?

I'm not even sure what you would take from that lesson... acupuncture is crazy?

Come to find out: after asking around after that experience, including the doc himself, a response like that is one of the best to have in acupuncture. It means that the energy is really flowing/working. I have no idea WHAT in the hell it was but something was moving and shaking. Oh, and that night? I had the emotions and the cramps from hell. No period yet but something is trying to happen. Quite interesting.
So, lessons from this crazy day: vanity hurts and acupuncture works. New tag line? And if you ever schedule a first waxing in a year and a first time appointment with a new acupunturist within an hour of each other, you might be declared certifiably insane. By me. (And only because I now know how crazy that was).

A day of summer.

GUESS WHAT?! Summer came to Seattle! Maybe it only lasted for a day (seeing as how right now it's POURING RAIN), but I'll take what we can get right now. In honor of this summer day, we took full advantage by going out on Justin's brothers boat on Lake Samammish on Sunday. We started bright and early at 9am and went until about 4pm. It was GLORIOUS. Oh yeah, but. I sort of forgot I don't have that Phoenix glow anymore. Which also means that my skin isn't used to sun. Which means I got burned. BAD. I even put sunscreen on. Oh well, it was all overshawdoed by the screams of SUMMER! SUN! SUMMER!

A few pictures:

And now, everyone who lives in Seattle remembers why. We'll bitch and moan but these days are just fabulous, perfect even.

EVEN with the world's worst sunburn...Today I had to go to the dentist for my twice annual cleaning, and as I'm sitting in the chair I'm skirming like crazy because the sunburn itches so bad. I literally stopped by trader joes on my way back to work to buy a bottle of aloe so giant that it may last me the next 20 years. But my goal at that moment was to take a 20 year bath in it, so it made sense. As I'm rubbing it all over myself in the car in traffic, I'm getting honks all around. I probably looked like I was playing with myself but let me tell you: I haven't never felt something so good.

My poor skin.

Note to self: when you have seen sun so infrequently lately, wear SPF 400.

A new toy...

I got a new bike! Er, well, part of a bike.

Here are three things you need to know about Justin:
1) He loves bikes (shocker!) and is beyond knowledgeable at everything bike related
2) He is thrifty beyond belief. Part of this is that he is almost OCD to the point of finding a good deal and he just knows where to look (I cannot BELIEVE how much I've learned from him in the thrifty regard, being that I am not thrifty at ALL)
3) He has been looking for a bike to build for me for quite some time so that we can ride together (aww).

This morning, after months of trying to find the "perfect" (but reasonable- remember, he's thrifty!) frame, he won an ebay auction for what was deemed the perfect frame that was still a good deal (trust me, a good deal on a good bike? Um, I could buy several pairs of designer jeans... BLOWS me away) so we drove over to Seattle to get it. It's an awesome frame, I'm told (I know nothing about bikes, so this is going off of the bike master's words). It's a belgium frame and there's about 10 other things that he told me about it but I don't remember other than it sounded cool. All I know is that it looks really sleek and sexy and it's super light!

Seeing as how I spent all week wanting to curl up in a ball from an intense hip flexor injury from running way too much last week (whoops, brought that one on myself... damn runners high!) that radiated up my back (oh, let me tell you a) how pleasant that's been and b) how pleasant it's made me!), I have decided that I might need to bike more so I am all for this new purchase. And it would be fun to bike with Justin since he is such an avid rider and is so good at it. Meaning, maybe if I ride with him, I'll have a lessor chance to kill, er, well at least injure myself somehow? The bike isn't all put together yet but I'll be the first to report how the first ride goes... I think I'll like it. Even though in my previous experience riding bikes, it's one of the hardest workouts out there (kind of like how riders say that running is absolute hell...runners say the same thing about riding). It's called compromise.

Full circle mishap

Remember here when I mentioned that we have been getting organic groceries delivered to us? Um, yeah. So yesterday was our scheduled every other week delivery and somehow they messed up so that we got TWO boxes. Couple that with a recent trip to Costco and our fridge is just jam packed with veggies... which means two things: MASSIVE JUICING and SALADS. (And we might turn in to vegetables in the process).

Mid-fall, er, summer concert

A couple months ago, my friend Stacie sent out an email to get people to go to the Sarah McLaughlin concert at a winery close by. IN, for sure! I've always loved Sarah music and the idea of a nice warm summer night sitting outside, with friends, listening to music and drinking wine couldn't have sounded better. So I bought tickets. And then, this week, Seattle continued to experience their 4th season: fall. Preceded by winter, then fall, then winter, now back to fall (you know, with a couple of schizo warm spring days in there... no rhyme or reason and NEVER to exceed 2 days at a time. And, no, we don't do summer in these parts- see my last post). SO, yes, fall has returned so the thought of sitting outside at a concert when it had been POURING all week? Yuck. But, we psyched ourselves up and wouldn't you know? Seattle surprised us. Last night was the nicest part of the whole week. About 65 degrees when we got there at 6pm, partly sunny, no rain. NO WAY.

Above: ticket. Rain or shine.

Shot #1 of amphitheater: looking like it could pour any second.

Justin looking awfully serious. I'm not sure why. He was probably people watching... intently. 

Shot #2 of amphitheater... starting to see, what's that color, BLUE sky? Incredible.

And yours truly... in a sweater and uggs (not pictured)... drinking wine. It was actually a rather pleasant night.

Oh what's that? You want to see a closeup of the new sunglasses Justin just got me? You're in luck! He took about a million pictures in a row and a close up was in the cards. They are Spy's and I love them. Yes, he has good style.

A side note on sunglasses: this is my first pair I've gotten in 4 years since I moved up here from Phoenix (not kidding). I had about a million pairs when I moved here, you know, because you need them in Phoenix every day and since then I've just been wearing all of those. I finally lost my last pair last summer (it's a life mystery- I consistently lose sunglasses and socks), and I never have replaced the last pair I lost, nor have I needed to (read: lack of sun). So, Justin, being the nice guy he is, bought me a new pair (in hopes that it would coerce Seattle to experience some sun?) He actually bought me 2 pairs (the others are pretty much the same but brown).

So, back to the concert- it was great. Rich and Stacie joined us a while after we got there and we saw a couple of other friends we knew, too. It ended up being the perfect night for a concert outside with good friends and good wine... even if I was wearing uggs in July.

Today's headline: "Heatwave scorches the nation."

Um? HI. ARE YOU MOCKING US MSN?

I would like to slap you. This is not amusing.

Currently in Seattle? We are in fall. FALL. As in barely making 60 degrees and rain type of fall. As in, I just bought a hot freaking coffee mid DAY yesterday because I was cold. As in, I still am wearing uggs. And sweaters. And beanies. In July. (And sadly, I'm not joking).

Ok, I'm being insensitive. To all of the people I know who are reading this from the hot parts of the country (read: everywhere but here), I am sorry. I know, it must suck. Especially in the midwest where it's humid and a million degrees or Phoenix and a 120 degree "dry" heat. I KNOW. But most of you have air conditioning and I know you are surviving. And, hell, it's SUMMER it's SUPPOSED to be hotter than hades. And, seeing as how I've lived in hot summer climates, I know there are people that are getting sick of the heat, that are literally seeking health care for heat related illnesses and it's just not fun. I GET IT.

That being said, that's as far as my sensitivity goes. So, I would like to request some of that... just for a day or two. Or maybe perhaps 7 in a row. I swear, I'm not trying to be greedy. And maybe not to the extreme as some parts of the country are feeling because as the pacific northwest is in a perpetual state of fall, we don't have air conditioning. Because we don't need it (seriously, it's 60 degrees in July). But, I am a warm blooded girl and I MISS those hot summer days. It's the definition of summer to me: Going outside and feeling like you might melt and spending weekends in the water. Getting ice cold lattes or teas or juices and eating pounds of watermelon. Wearing SHORTS and tank tops (a foreign concept here). Actually having some color versus this stark white we are (still) rocking up here. And then at the end of every heat filled summer day, knowing that right around the corner IS fall. Cooler days, cooler weather leading into the fall and subsequent holiday season. Right now, you could tell me that Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I might just believe you.

SO yes, I get it. It's hot everywhere but here. Additionally, accordingly to a news article I just read, Seattle has only had 78 (SEVENTY EIGHT) minutes, yes MINUTES, of weather over 80 degrees since last September. I. kid. you. not. This is ludicrous.

Good thing this morning I got all of the ads for the fall lines... outerwear, sweaters, boots. Typically it's way to hot to even consider these type of items but today as I'm in jeans and long sleeves and once again drinking hot tea to stay warm, I'm debating about purchasing some of these cold weather items.... seeing as how it's July 22 and I am firmly convinced Seattle is skipping summer. (But thanks again MSN for rubbing it in that, indeed, the rest of the country is in the dog days of summer...as if I wasn't already aware!)

One month out...

The signs were all over yesterday reminding me that we are one month out from the wedding, starting with pouring milk on the cereal and a "use by" date of August 19, 2011:

And THEN, more flowers from Justin to commemorate the day with a special delievery from Justin and Bailey (who's with us this week).

Along with wine that tortured me all day by staring at me in the face... we aren't usually merlot drinkers but it should be a great wine to try. I am only a little freaked out that we are a month out just due to things that we need to get done before then but mostly I just feel excited and ready to do this and get on with the rest of our life...together.

An uneventful rest of the weekend.

Ok, I lied. In the last post I said we broke out Mr. Knob because it was our first "official" year together. It wasn't. That was Saturday, the 16th. One day off. But celebrations can always start early and go later, right? That's how I roll- remember, birthday WEEK?

Anyway, Saturday we woke up, had breakfast and then had the perfect celebratory day planned (excuse me, that was sort of sarcastic). First up, to Seattle to the cake place to try out cakes for the wedding. MMM. This was fun. Next up, trip to the mall to pick up a couple of things. This was still sort of fun, but not ideal. I'm not a "shopper." I'm in and out to get what I want and I generally really dislike the Bellevue mall. It's confusing. It's taken me FOUR FREAKIN YEARS (yes, all caps required) to figure out how to just get to the basics (Khiels, Nordstom, Sephora). If I have to find something outside of that, say, a Hallmark or something obscure that I wouldn't normally go to? I had better layer in an extra hour of time because I'll be going in circles for YEARS (aka: an hour). Next up?  Trip to Costco. (GROOAN...)

Side note: I DESPISE Costco. Especially on Saturdays. People step foot into Costco and immediately become idiots, even if they aren't naturally an idiot outside of Costco. Everytime I step foot in a Costco on a Saturday, I wind up wanting to punch about 10 people in the face. Including myself for inflicting this torture on myself by being there. It's sort of a love-hate relationship though because I do love the things I can buy at Costco. But always hate the bill. I swear, I've never spent under $200 there. We did good this time though at under $300. And it really ends up being a great deal for us to go there, especially for when we have the kids.

At Costco, we got several cheeses to try out that are cheeses we'll have at our weddings...I believe they were mostly all local and even though they were about the size of our heads for $10 a pop, it was worth it since a little chunk goes for $5 a pop at whole foods. So, after enduring Costco, our treat to ourselves was a wine and cheese plate at home. Mmm. One of the cheddars that we are getting goes AMAZING with dates. Holy cow, I probably could eat that and pair it with wine for the rest of my life and die happy. It was just incredible. We thought the dates would pair better with the brie, but it was definitely way better with the cheddar. After Costco, we decided that was enough of this productive business for the day, so we made a nice dinner, drank some more wine, and relaxed...

On Sunday we were up bright and early (try 5am) as Justin had another bike race over in Seattle.

Look at him, the cute biker boy. While he was warming up for an hour before the race... (I know, this is a phenomenon I don't get either but apparently when you start you go all out so you have to warm up an hour before. By then I'd be tired and over it... but maybe that's just me? Apparently)...anyway, while he was doing that, I ran around the Univesity of Washington. I only got a few miles in before I had to head back to watch the race start.

I did walk the course he was racing before I started running and got some shots of him warming up.

And one more. We are in the "U district" of Seattle, accordingly called because it's right by the university of Washington and Lake union. He raced around boat street, a street pretty much right on Lake Union.

And the start of the race... it gets most exciting at the very end, though, when they sprint to the finish. He did AWESOME. He didn't get pulled and finished in the top ten. For only his second race in several years, this is just great. I was really proud of him and he was happy with his race, too, so that's all that matters. Next goal for the next race? Top 5. He'll do it.

Post engagement photos.

After taking our engagement photos (click here if you missed the link) on Friday night and then getting SOAKED as the Washington skies decided to rain yet again (at least at a convenient time this time...shocking that it was decidedly so convenient), we decided to stay out in downtown Kirkland and to go to Thai for dinner. It wasn't like we would be BBQ-ing or anything. Seattle reverted back to oh, WINTER. Fail. But mmmm, Thai food. Win. 

A shot of Justin (with sexy rain hair), above, at dinner. Seriously, is Thai food amazing or what? I don't think I ever will get tired of it. 

In honor of a successful engagement photo shoot with what were sure to be amazing pictures (and WERE) as well as our first "official" year together, we brought out the big guns. Mr Knob Creek. Oh hello, good old friend, it's been a while.

An attempt at a shady iphone shot of the two of us (hi, there's my rain hair!) with our buddy Knob. He's a good old pal. Nice and smooth and makes us oh so warm. 

Cheers to us! So happy.

Engagement photos

These are up on the wedding blog, too, since they are obviously relatively wedding related but they are too awesome not to share in both places. We took them on Friday night and I have a whole story on how a crisis was averted for these photos but I have no time now to share... more on that later. But for now, click here, to see the fabulous Tara's blog and the sneak peak of our photo shoot. We LOVE her and how she really managed to capture the essence of us in her photos.

Full circle.

We started to get organic groceries delivered to us twice a month (every other Thursday) from a local farm- Full Circle farm. It varies on what they send us but it's all fruit/veggies from local farmers. So far, AMAZING. We have gotten so many things that we wouldn't normally buy that we cook with and end up loving and it's sort of like a mini-Christmas every other week to open the box and try to figure out what they sent us this week, then look at the recipes to decide what we will be cooking. We love it. For anyone who lives in the Seattle area- highly recommend this service!

Dead.

Well, who was betting that I'd kill the flowers I mentioned that Justin bought me in this post? If so, you win. They are pretty much dead. AND I even watered them. I think they needed sun.

This might be a new record. Usually it takes at least a month for me to kill plants.



Day #2 east of the mountains.

In this post, I talked all about our first day of the mini-vacation/trip to Becky's wedding east of the mountains. Here, I'll talk about day #2. We woke up on Sunday and planned to go on a big 10 mile day hike in Leavenworth. We were up bright and early and started the drive to Leavenworth from Wenatchee.

Above: road to Wenatchee. We got in to Wenatchee and made a quick stop at Starbucks only to tell each other that we were just not feeling a big hike. So we drove around Leavenworth, drank coffees, explored the town, headed back to sleeping lady for a leisurely breakfast and THEN headed into the mountains for a stroll.

Above- mountains post breakfast.

And a slightly better shot. Icicle creek in the middle of the picture.

We ended up doing about a 5 mile loop up the Snow Lake trail. It was gorgeous. And holy crap, it ended up being a workout. Once we started going, we just went for it. As is typical.

Um. Can we just take a second to look at the above picture and salute, The Hair. WOAH BABY, I thought we talked about how the sticking your finger in a socket look isn't going to be the next bowl cut? It's too bad that I sort of cut off the hair although I'm pretty sure it was sticking up 10 feet so there's no way I would have captured it all... (isn't he cute though?)

Justin on the mountain.

A shot looking down from the mountain.

And a cool shot of the forest- these woods burned about 10 years ago and you can still see the effects on the trees in the forest (see above curled limbs). It's pretty crazy.



Another pretty trail shot. Washington state really is gorgeous.

And one more of Justin. Just in case you didn't see the other 1,000,000 shots I've posted of him on this blog.

At the end of the hike, we took a quick picture in front of icicle creek.

After the hike, we explored around more including visiting several places where Justin used to live as well as several canyons that surround Leavenworth that were pretty cool. We also went to Lake Wenatchee (above). The water was frigid as it's all glacier run off (Justin tested this, above).

We then got back onto the highway back to Seattle and made a stop at deception falls, above. CRAZY huge waterfall right now due to all of the snow melt. There was a little 1.5 mile loop around the park there that we did as well.

A shot of Justin on the super scary bridge above the falls. I HATE bridges that you can see through. It creeps me out, I have no idea why- perhaps because I feel like I'll fall through? I also hate grates on the street that are like this and will purposefully avoid walking on them. Everyone has their quirks.

On the path at deception falls there were HUGE trees that were something like 600 years old. Above is one that we couldn't even see the top of. CRAZY. After exploring around here, we hopped back in the car, sat in traffic for a bit and eventually made it home for a relaxing sunday night. It was a short trip east but it felt like it was a much longer vacation of sorts since we got out of Seattle. Exactly what we needed.

Headed to the sunnier side...

This past weekend we headed east of the mountains on Saturday morning to Wenatchee. It's notoriously more "seasonal" east of the mountains, not to mention they have 300 days of sun a year. I'm not sure what's really better- rain and more moderate temps or sun and snow? I guess I've opted for rain/moderate temperatures seeing as how that's where I live. Plus, I really do NOT miss frigid 10 degree snowy days, even if it is sunny. I better not get started on the weather since currently it is not EVEN 70 degrees, raining, and I'm wearing a turtleneck. Seattle, um, HI, it's JULY. #*$&#! Oh, there I go. I digress. I give up on you, stupid Seattle "summer" weather.

A few pictures from our drive east:

Headed out of town up north in the little farming communities at the base of the mountains...

Coming up to the mountains (it was even sunny on the west side of the mountains that day! See SEATTLE, this is how you should be, come on, just do it... just for a few days in a row PLEASE?!)

The fearless driver... or something. Actually I think he was just excited to drive little Alfred along the mountain roads. He knows them so well from doing this drive 400,000 times when he lived east of the mountains and went to school in Seattle. So, literally he would say to me, "oh, hey do you want to buy a knife?" I'd be all "what are you talking about?" And then 100 seconds later we'd pass a knife stand on the side of the road. Or, "hey, look out to your right...watch out!" And then, baffled, I'd look, and I'd see a roaring waterfall. I told him he'd spent WAY too much time driving that road but I guess that's what makes it fun to drive it since he knows it so well. It was honestly pretty cute.

Headed up towards the pass through the foresty parts...

And yours truly, having nothing else to take pictures of.... perhaps I was bored.

About to come over the pass....

And after the pass, we dropped down into Leavenworth, the town where Justin really grew up and graduated high school from. It's the little Bavarian village that plays to tourism (and HI, is GORGEOUS... note: above). It's not really Bavarian, so to speak, it's just how all of the buildings look. It's a very cute little mountain town and to say that I love it there as much as Justin does even with all of the memories he has there would be an understatement. If we could make money there, I have no doubt that we'd move there in an instant even WITH the snow and cold (and trust me, it's saying something if I say that). It's just a tough town to make money in since really the only thing it thrives on is tourism. I'm pretty sure tourists have their own CPAs and personal trainers at home...

The river coming into Leavenworth... it was ROARING due to all of the snow melt which was much later this year. There was still TONS of snow on the mountains which was just incredible for July. But then again, Washington hasn't quite gotten the memo that the rest of the country is well into summer. I think we're still stuck back in, oh, MARCH.

Once in Leavenworth, we were starving so stopped for lunch at Sleeping Lady, the resort where Justin used to work. Above- one of their famous (incredible) monster cookies. I barely got a picture before it was entirely consumed and this is disregarding the fact that it was about the size of my head...mini-vacation calories don't count, right? So seriously good.

Justin drinking ginger tea. It was so nice just to sit outside in the 75 degree weather.

After lunch, we continued our trek east to Wenatchee, where it stops looking so mountain-y and starts to look more like Phoenix. Remember, we went here in April too (and Leavenworth as well). See here for that post.

...well, I guess Wenatchee looks like Phoenix with a river running through it. And only during these months, not so much when there's snow all over.

We checked in at our hotel and headed straight to the reason we were east of the mountains: a wedding for my friend Becky (who is from Wenatchee). Above: us sweating our butts off in 85 degrees (it's warmer in Wenatchee than Leavenworth) waiting for the wedding to start.

And a picture of the beautiful bride and groom. It was so fun to be there with them on their special day! After the wedding, we headed back into Leavenworth for dinner at South, a GREAT little restaurant downtown where we saw about two million people that knew Justin. I swear, he's like a Leavenworth celebrity... we can't go two feet in that town without someone recognizing him. It was seriously hilarious. It's happened every time we've visited there and I still can't get over it. Small towns... there is definitely something to be said for them.

Part II of the trip east to be continued....