Making Lemmonade: August 2015

"It takes you FOREVER to write a blog post."
With those words of encouragement from my husband in mind, I am going to give myself a break and make an attempt at a flash blog post. I won't post every.single.thing. I did, all the mileage, or break down the days, but will just give you snippets of fun stuff that has happened in the 12 or so days since I last blogged.

One thing I have learned as a runner is the excitement that comes from getting or trying out new running gear. So you can imagine the excitement I felt when ordering a new pair of running shoes. It took me at least a week to narrow down to the two I wanted, and then another week after that polling friends, reading reviews, and scrolling through photos of my final two options. After ordering from Lady Foot Locker, I received a tracking number and was pleased to see that my shoes would arrive in 4 days instead of the anticipated 7-10. I knew I wanted to break in the new shoes at least once before my long run on Saturday, so it would be awesome to secure them on Wednesday.
I knew our mail carrier, Mac, usually comes when I am on my lunch break somewhere between 12-1, so I made it a point to go home RIGHT when my lunch started. I opened our mailbox to see the dreaded note indicating a dropoff attempt. NOOOOOO
I don't usually take an entire hour to eat lunch, so I grabbed Franklin and set off on a frantic search around the neighborhood for Mac, hoping he hadn't gotten too far. Well, after speaking with 2 different mail carriers about the whereabouts of Mac, I stalked a truck that was a couple streets behind ours. It wasn't Mac, but I stepped out to ask that carrier if he knew where Mac was. The carrier said that Mac was off that day, but he was the one who had attempted to deliver my package. I squealed with delighted and pleaded with him for my mail, and he was happy to give it to me right then! I love our postal carriers. He knew it was shoes not only because of the size of the package, but because of how frantic I was searching for it.

Sweet, sweet victory in the form of that glorious orange box.

They are the Nike Air Pegasus 32 in Photosynthesis, which were released in June. My last pair was a Pegasus 30 and these are very similar. You'll have to read on to see their debut....

Last Thursday, Syd's parents invited us over for dinner to have pizza. We knew we were definitely going for three reasons: 1.) We don't make a lot of money, so free food is always a plus. 2.) Anything my in-laws make is GOOD. 3.) We love spending time over there with the whole family.
Dinner was their usual specialty: pizza. My father-in-law, Dal, has had the same sourdough starter for years, and I have heard that sourdough gets better with age. He uses the starter as dough for pretzels, batter for waffle and pancakes, bread, and my favorite-pizza dough.

This was the chicken pesto with grilled onions and pine nuts.

Perfect lunch leftovers! Half chicken pesto and half white hot sauce with pepperoni and olives.

As far as running goes, I broke in my new shoes at the track so here is their debut!

I also had my last long run before the Humboldt Bay Half Marathon, which is this weekend. I went 12 miles in the new shoes and they were great. I hadn't done a long run in several weeks, so it felt awesome and I kept at a good pace. I seriously love my Saturday long runs and forgot how much I missed them.

When I ran by the zoo, I noticed that the flowers were in full bloom in the garden right next to it so I took a little breather to stretch and selfie amongst the scenery.

Flowers on flowers.

After I showered and got dressed, Syd and I headed to Fortuna for the Auto Expo. It is something we have done together for several years and I have absolutely no idea why it is a tradition of ours, but it just is and we look forward to keeping that tradition alive every summer.

"Creamsicle"

My favorites are the trucks from the 1930's.

I knew Syd was in car heaven, but honestly after about 30 minutes, all of the cars started to look the same to me. I ended up finding a cute little used book store and spent the rest of our time in Fortuna there while Syd drooled over 1970s Chevelles.

Saturday night was also a birthday celebration for our dear friend Jamie. I am SO glad she is back in Eureka because it means she gets to crack me up at least once a week. A group of us met up at Lost Coast for dinner, and then we went to the Crabs game together. Because we were a bit late, and it was a Saturday game with fireworks to be featured after, there wasn't much seating for our group. We ended up watching the game in the grassy area to the left of the bleachers where many people set out lawn chairs. It wasn't the best view, but we could move around if we wanted to and there were lots of people to chat with. However, it was an awesome form of birth control being annoyed by wild, unparented children for most of the game.

I just love this group of girlfriends.

It ended up being a really long game because the opposing team had a ton of errors so we left shortly before 11 I think, but the Crabs surely ended with the W. I had an unfulfilled sweet tooth, so before we headed back to Eureka, Syd and I stopped by an ice cream shop in Arcata called Scoop. They use local, organic ingredients, and have some unique flavors. I chose chocolate orange chip and lemon poppyseed, which was one of my favorites when I was young and we had Bon Boniere.

We also got a chance to sit on this really cool bench swing there. It really is the cutest shop to eat ice cream in.

Last Monday night, I was driving home from Bible Study, and on Harrison Avenue just past Safeway, I saw this friend staring at my car as I was driving past.

If any non-local people don't know, Harrison Avenue, the street we live on, is quite busy. It is a business and medical office district, so it was quite shocking to see a deer just standing there on the sidewalk on such a busy street when it wasn't really dark out yet. It chilled there for so long that I had time to pull over a few blocks ahead and turn my car back around to drive by slower and get some good pictures of it. I left before it ever moved, so I hope it made its way back to the forest!

Tuesday night, I was invited by my bestie Taylor to Rita's, a local Mexican restaurant, for her quarter century birthday celebration! It was just a few of us girlfriends of hers, and I knew I should have expected this, but I was the only non-nurse. Shocker.

The girls were super funny, and even though I didn't have much to contribute to the conversations of Code Greys, catheters, and antibiotics, it was good company and good food, that was paid for by Taylor's friend Melissa-thanks so much!

I got even more time with my girl Taylor this week after I dragged her out running with me at Headwaters. She texted me asking if I was going to circuit class that evening, but as it was a scheduled running day, I encouraged her to run with me outside instead considering it was a super warm, sunny day. She responded with, "I'm a terrible runner but I can try lol."

Well, lol is right because for being a "terrible runner," she did awesome! And what makes her even more beastly is that she went to an intense strength and conditioning class earlier that morning. GIRL BOSS.

Love these two.

Like I mentioned, the weather was amazing here last week. My sweet, thoughtful Mom brought me her AMAZINGLY PERFECT chocolate chip cookies at work and during my lunch break I enjoyed a couple along with my new obsession of chocolate cashew milk out in the backyard sun with Franklin.

Slightly crisp on the outside and ooey gooey on the inside just like I like 'em.

Syd and I also went to our third Crabs game last Thursday with my family, including my dad who was in town for several days visiting. It was much less packed considering it was a weeknight. But people were sure missing out because it was one of the most gorgeous sunset skies I have ever seen and it looked even more outstanding over a big green baseball field in the summertime.

Thanks to my sis, Camille, for the wonderful photos.

Cotton candy skies.

When we got home, Syd opened the front door and Franklin ran out to the front yard where my sister was,and he was so excited to see her that he was crying. He was actually so excited, that when Syd was reaching down to pet him, Franklin rolled onto his back and peed....all over Syd's arm. It was pretty fricken funny.

We ended Thursday night by celebrating National Cheesecake Day (as if we would miss out on that) courtesy of Ramone's down the street.

I requested getting off work early on Friday because I had exciting plans that afternoon...one of my dear friends' rehearsal dinner! Kelsey and I first met in kindergarten at Pine Hill. We were in Brownies together and had several play dates. When I moved back to Eureka for 6th grade, it was like our friendship picked right up where it had left off and we have been friends ever since. She was an integral part of my wedding as well, serving as a bridesmaid, keeping me sane, and helping in any and every way she could, which I will forever remember and appreciate. So I was honored to be asked to be a bridesmaid on her special day as well.

The rehearsal dinner was held at the wedding site, Carlotta Country Occassions, which is southeast of Fortuna, I think. The bridesmaids all had their mini reunion saying hi to each other, and then rehearsing began shortly after. I was super happy to find out that I would be walking with Kelsey's little brother, Zach. I probably shouldn't say little anymore because he is no longer the three year old kid I remember. It made me super nostalgic and I was glad for the pairing.

Altar site.

After rehearsal, we had yummy bbq and socializing against a gorgeous yellow sky. I should mention that this past weekend there were and still are many wildfires burning near our area. The smoke from the fires made the sky eerily hazy, but the color of the sunset was stunning. However, it was literally sprinkling ash throughout the evening. I had never seen anything like it. The tables and our cars were covered in it. Please pray for the fires that so many brave fire personnel are continuing to risk their lives to stop.

A couple of us bridesmaids went back to Kelsey's apartment that night for a mini sleepover. We helped out/watched her prep for a few last minute wedding details.

The bride-to-be putting some finishing touches on her personal vows.

In the morning, I got out of the shower to hear Kelsey's younger sister, Sadie, walk in the room and say, "My sister is getting married today! She is so grown up..."

To sum Kelsey and Seth's wedding day up, it was the most beautiful, Pinteresty wedding I have ever been to (aside from my own). Kelsey was as cool as a cucumber, as gorgeous as a princess bride, and the love she and Seth exuded for each other was radiating. It only rained for about 20 minutes that day (lol), and the rest of the evening was sunny and clear, perfect for pictures and dancing.