Beauty

This is Beauty hanging out at home with us this weekend...she is lazy :)

For my father-in-law

More photoshop fun!

Another

One More

Photoshop Warhols

So, I am making Christmas gifts this year and for some people I took pictures made them into Warhol-esque pieces of art.  I am going to frame them up.  I think that it will make a good gifts :)

NaNoWriMo Winner!!

Yay for me! I did it.  I wrote 50,000 words in the month of November, with a couple of days to spare.  My story isn't finished--it ended up taking a turn that I didn't expect so I think that I could probably do another 50,000 to get the first draft totally done.  Well, I don't know if it will take that much, we'll see.  I haven't reread any of it, so I am not sure if the story is worth keeping, or if I will trash it.  So, we'll see.  

I am a bit amazed at the amount I produced though.  To put it in something easier to understand--my draft is currently about 71 pages, single spaced.  I have never written anything close to that long, so overall that is a success I think.

And don't worry Clane, I will get a little excerpt ready and post it in the near future!

Will I do it again? Yes, definitely.  It really was a lot of fun and I was amazed at how the story just seemed to come out.  I love to write and this was a good way to get the juices flowing.  Now I just need to decide what to do with this :)

Do you think this counts for "writing a book" on my list?

My beagle

There is in article in Forbes saying that what type of dog you can say something about you. Here's what is say about having a beagle:

"You are inquisitive and willing to learn new things. The Beagle is constantly questioning. If you own one of these dogs, chances are you are a curious, willful person who is loyal to friends, tough on enemies and pretty stubborn."

Stubborn? Never! :)

Steps toward Number 6

So...I took a step today toward number 6 on my list--finish a marathon...I bought a book :)  I have a few other running books on my "to read" list as well, but this was the first marathon specific book.  It is called The Non Runner's Marathon Guide for Women by Dawn Dais.  It has been good so far.  I am thinking about which race to sign up for and nervous just thinking about it!  

I don't know why I choose such big goals. I mean, maybe I should start with running a 5k, instead of 26.2 miles!  I tend to do this--go all in with stuff.  I am not a runner--I have never been.  When I did my triathlons a couple of years ago I walked most of the 5k.  My goal was just to complete the triathlon and I did (twice).  I was really slow (I just looked at my times and they are embarrassingly slow), but I finishing and that was my goal.  But most of the "run" portion (5k) was walked.  

So, I am a bit apprehensive about the whole thing but I want to do it (for some reason I can't explain). I am thinking about the Seattle Rock-n-Roll Marathon at the end of June. I think that should be enough time to train.  Hmmmm....guess what I will be thinking about this weekend!!

Cystic Fibrosis Misinformation

So I try to keep this blog fun, but I just cannot keep my mouth shut about this.

Yesterday the student body association of Carleton University in Ottawa decided to discontinue its long time participation in the Shinearama fundraiser to raise funds for cystic fibrosis research. Now, that is fine, support the charities that you want, but their stated reasons for discontinuing support are just so wrong! Here is the motion:

Motion to Drop Shinerama Fundraising Campaign from Orientation Week
Whereas Orientation week strives to be [as] inclusive as possible;
Whereas all orientees and volunteers should feel like their fundraising efforts will serve the their diverse communities;
And Whereas Cystic fibrosis has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men
Be it resolved that: CUSA discontinue its support of this campaign
Be it Further Resolved that the CUSA representatives on the incoming Orientation Supervisory Board work to select a new broad reaching charity for orientation week.
Moved: Donnie Northrup
Seconded: Meera Chander

Seriously??? Even if that were true (which it is not--CF affects all races and men and women equally), is that a reason to not support a charity. I wonder where these people got their information! Here's a good column about this bad move by a bunch of college students. For real information about CF, go to www.cff.org.

Geez!

Calendar Girl

Beauty that is! Beauty is Miss February for the Seattle Beagle Rescue Calendar this year. Isn't she cute!! Order one and the proceeds go to help beagles in need! Go here to order!

6 Random Things About Me

1)  I dance around the house when no one is home (except Beauty, and then I dance with her)

2)  I like to sleep alone (sorry Gess!) and stretch waaaaaay out on the bed

3)  I loooooove hockey

4)  I have a creative streak---I always have a million ideas brewing in my head

5)  I don't like to sit in the dark, I like to have the lamp on

6)  I hate to fold laundry (as evidenced by 3 weeks worth of laundry on the ping pong table)

Over Half Way!

Time for a NaNoWriMo update: 27479 words. I am over half way there! I am a bit behind in word count (about 2,500 words), but that isn't too bad. I was over 5,000 behind when I started yesterday. So, I am feeling good about it and really not worried about catching up. I just didn't write much this weekend, which I think was the issue. I am feeling like I am at a bit of a block...the story isn't coming out as quickly as it was before, but I think that is common. So, I will just keep writing. It is still yet to be seen if this is actually going to be anything worth taking to the next draft, but we' ll see.

One thing that it has done is shown me that writing is good for me, and that if i make time, I have it--maybe not to write at this quick pace all of the time. But to make good, steady progress. So maybe one day you will actually walk past my book at Barnes and Noble!

Sunrise in Seattle

So on Saturday night my husband announced that we were waking up early, but did not tell me why. He likes to surprise me, so I try not to prod and just say okay. Well, when it was before 6 and he is telling me I need to get out of bed...I wasn't exactly a happy camper, but I rolled out of bed, threw on my favorite hoodie and sweat pants. Gess announced that we were going to see the sunrise. At first I got a little excited--seeing a sunrise is on my LIST after all. But then I remembered that Gess doesn't read my blog and probably has no idea what is on my LIST. So, that made me a little sad. Obviously this wasn't romantic gesture that I thought that it might be. But...I put on my happy face and tried to enjoy it anyway and not get mad at him--since he didn't do anything wrong...

Turns out, the reason that we were going was that Clane asked him to, so that they could play with their toys--I mean there very important professional equipment.

Luckily we had good coffee and no rain and got some good glimpses of the view--even though the fog was being difficult. Gess hasn't uploaded any of his photos yet, but here is one of Clane's (thanks!)





One more to cross off the list!!

Happy Career Anniversary to Me!

Just over 5 years ago, on Nov. 3, 2003, I was sworn into the Washington State Bar as an attorney. I can't believe that it has been that long!

NaNoWriMo Update

10 days...16,701 words. I rock!! :) In all seriousness, the NaNoWriMo experience is going well. I have missed a couple of days of writing because of work (no fun) and partying (fun :) ), but managed to catch up with my word count today. Even more exciting is that my story seems to be forming into something :) The writing is very very rough and I can't even imagine how much editing is going to go into this thing if I want to do anything with it. But those thoughts are for another time--another month. November is just for fast-paced, no holds barred, writing.

One Down!!

I finished my first MBA class today.  It was fine, nothing too exciting :)  I start my next class (Human Resource Management) tomorrow.  

Politically Active Beagle

I forgot to post this great button that I found on etsy! My dog is stylish and politically active :)





Thanks thedogcoatlady!

NaNoWriMo

Christmas Too Soon!

Imagine my dismay when I walked into Starbucks this morning (on November 4th) and was handed my coffee in a bright red holiday cup!! On Saturday--the day after Halloween--we were at the mall and Christmas music was playing. On Sunday we saw that the grocery store had candy canes at the registers. Seriously folks, its the beginning of November! Let the kids eat their Halloween candy and Thanksgiving pumpkin pie before throwing candy canes at them!

Blog Header

My dear friend Dana is training for an Ironman next year and started a blog to document her journey. To show my support, I came up with a blog header for her. She likes it :) Go visit her blog and give her props for being an-Ironman-to-be!! Go Dana!!! You rock!!

PT Update

I went to my physical therapy re-evaluation today, hoping to be "graduated" from PT. Things are looking pretty good, but I still have relative weakness in my left anterior hip and also some reduced flexibility in that area. Everything else looks "rock solid" so that is the plus side. The down side is that I have to continue with PT for another month. It isn't too bad, but I would really love to be deemed "healed." I am itching to start training for something, but I am a bit scared to re-injure myself.

I am considering starting to play basketball again--but my schedule is a bit to crazy for that right now. I want to do at least one triathlon next year and there is a marathon on my big "List," so I want to start thinking about when I am going to plan that!

For right now, I must keep it simple and keep plugging along with the gym, boot camp, and working out with my trainer. I am taking a flip-turns swimming clinic this weekend too (the hope is that mastering the flip-turn again will help me find my swimming rhythm!).

Don't Forget to Vote!

Tuesday is Election Day! Don't forget to go out and make your voice heard!

Productive Weekend

So I have 7,147 words so far! I only did 2,000 today since I spent most of the day writing a paper--darn school! It is interesting because I have no idea what my book is going to be about and have no idea where it is going! It is kind of fun this way because it is like I am reading it at the same time. Right now I can't wait to find out what happens! I am happy to have survived the first weekend. I am a bit scared aabout this week because I am super busy at work and have a few after work commitments. But hopefully it will go alright! Yay NaNoWriMo!!

Over 5,000

On the first day of NaNoWriMo, I spit out over 5,000 words! The daily goal is 1,167, but I wanted to build up a reserve for insurance! I sort of went it to this with very little planning and thoughts about it...so I am in a place that I never would have thought I would be. I am trying really hard to silence the self-editor and to just keep plunking away to see what comes of it. I may be comically bad, but it might always be a start to something good. 29 more days to go!