Three Countries in One Day and Mission Memories

From Luzern, we went to Dornbirn, Austria. It wasn't in our original plan, but road took us through Liechtenstein, so we decided to stop in the capital city of Vaduz to check things out.
The first thing we noticed about the city was the pervasiveness of public art. It was quite wonderful. We also found out that stamps are a big deal there. Apparently, a lot of people come to the city only to get the stamps. I also found out that people really like to put those stamps on postcards and send them from Vaduz so they have the stamps with the Liechtenstein post mark on them. If I were a philatelist, I would have done that. But I'm not.We walked around and found a spot for lunch. I had the wurst, but apparently Bop and Beep had the worst -- worst hamburgers that is. I'm glad I didn't go for the hamburger. We all got a kick out of the menu though. One of the burgers was called the "BURG Burger" and was described as being a "beefburger mc burg." We're not entirely sure what that means, but we weren't sold on it.We enjoyed walking around town a little more and saw the parliament building. It had a cool modern feel.We also walked to a church in the middle of town, but it was closed for renovations.From Vaduz, we went on to Dornbirn. I didn't actually live in Dornbirn on my mission. I lived in Bregenz, just a bit North of Dornbirn, but we attended the ward in Dornbirn. While I served in that area, there were two women who were baptized. I really wanted to find out if they were still there. I was so happy to be back in Austria. I think if I lived in a foreign country, it would be Austria.We arrived in Dornbirn in the late afternoon and checked into our hotel. This was a great hotel with a wonderful design aesthetic. I thought the beds were even extra comfy. Once we were settled in the hotel, we went to explore the city. We walked to the walking zone in the middle of town and found that they were having a pumpkin festival. The coolest part of that was that there was a jack-o-lantern parade with kids lighting their pumpkins and pulling them around in wagons. It was so fun to see.We also had one of my favorite dinners at a super old restaurant called Das Rotes Haus. The house was amazing (and very old) and the dinner was wonderful in every way.The next morning, we got up and went to church at the Dornbirn ward. There was no one there that I knew, but I was able to find out where a few people were. I was disappointed to learn that one woman had quit coming to church, the the other woman's husband and two of her three children also joined the church and they were still active and living in a different town now.After church, we checked out of the hotel in Dornbirn and looked around town just a bit more before heading out. We also stopped in at a Rolls-Royce Museum just outside of town. Word on the street was that it was the largest collection of Rolls-Royce cars in the world. It was pretty cool.Then we drove back into Germany and went to Neuschwanstein castle. We parked the car and bought our tickets and had almost two hours before our tour would start. We looked in all the shops and at lunch before climbing up the hill to the castle. While we hiked and waited, the skies were completely overcast and it was a bit dreary looking outside.
We went on the tour and learned quite a bit about crazy King Ludwig II. He was an interesting character and built an amazing castle.When we came out of the castle, the clouds had completely lifted and the view of the castle was amazing. As we hiked back down to town, we saw the view of the castle on the hill and it was just wonderful. We had a great time visiting the castle and enjoying the scenery.
After leaving the castle, we headed to Fuessen, Germany and checked into our next hotel. It was a small guest house in a small suburb of a small town. The adjoining restaurant was our only choice for a dinner destination, so we tried it out. We all had to laugh when they asked us if we had a reservation when we showed up. It was just funny in such a small town like that. The dinner was fantastic though and we all enjoyed our evening.

Mishap One of Two on the Alpine Tour

Actually, I should qualify "mishap" as nothing really too bad. I'm so grateful for a trip that was blessedly free of any major problems.

On our drive from Luzern, Switzerland to Dornbirn, Austria, we drove on the Swiss Autobahn. It was delightful to drive on the fast open road. On our way, we stopped for gas at a rest stop right off the Autobahn. After getting gas, I moved the car to wait for the rest of our friends. That's when the Swiss police officer knocked on the window.

I tried not to panic, but that was a tall order. The officer asked me in German if I was driving my car. I answered that it was a rental car. I'll admit now that I was a bit wicked and also spoke with my worst American accent. That's when he asked me if I spoke German and I answered "a little" again with a bad American accent. Then he proceeded in English to tell us that we were driving without paying the toll for the Autobahn. The fine is $120 for not having the sticker. I had heard that police officers expect you to pay fines on the spot and they're not very nice about it. I was very concerned, but tried to play it cool.

We were talking to this officer on one of his good days. He told me to go into the gas station and buy the toll sticker (for $40) and told us that we would need one for Austria as well. And we didn't have to pay the fine. The man that sold me the toll sticker seemed to think I lived the charmed life. He couldn't get over the fact that I didn't get the fine. That made me even happier for the situation.

Once I got back in the car and put the sticker in the window, all was well. We all breathed a sigh of relief and were very vigilant to find a place to buy a sticker for Austria so we wouldn't have the same problem there. As nice as the police officer ended up being, I didn't want to talk to any more.

And We're Off to the Alps

After a couple of days in Munich, we headed Southwest toward Switzerland. Beep found this wonderful design museum just outside of Basel, Switzerland in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The Vitra Design Museum really was a highlight for two reasons. First, the buildings and displays were fantastic. I loved the way they created rooms to show the furniture and other things.
At every turn, I felt like there was something new and interesting to see.
Second, because of the amazing weather that day, the views from the museum windows were some of the best I've seen. Like Beep, I was interested in finding something in the museum shop to take home. Alas, everything was far beyond my means, so I didn't buy anything there.
From Weil am Rhein, we continued South into Switzerland and to Bern. We had a lovely, centrally located hotel in the city and we were able to go explore a little our first evening there. We had dinner at an outdoor cafe, where we were reminded how very many people in Europe smoke. It was anything but delightful when our waiter sat at the next table over from us smoking.The next day, we headed out to Zollikofen, just outside of Bern, and visited the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There was a little stress in finding the temple because the street it was on is a private street and didn't show up on the GPS. This turned into another "opportunity" for me to practice my German as I had to ask for directions from someone I stopped on the street. Fun times! Once we were there, though, it was wonderful. All the people were so nice and I got to see a couple that lived across the hall from me when I was a missionary there.After we got back to Bern, we did a bit of a walking tour of the city. We visited a beautiful church. I loved the decoration on the doors.
We also went to the bear pits that didn't have the bears in them. The pit was being cleaned, so the bears were in another more open area next to the river. It looked like fun for the bears, so we didn't mind too much.We also saw the Bern landmark, the Zytglogge.Then we went to the botanical gardens. It was interesting, but somewhere along the day I had twisted my knee and it hurt really bad, so I wasn't too interested in climbing the hills of the garden. Everyone else saw a lot more interesting things than I did, but that's the breaks. The good news was that the hurt knee went away the same way is showed up -- mysteriously and for no reason.The next day, we headed out of town to the Berner Oberland. This is perhaps some of the most beautiful land on earth. We went to Interlaken where we looked around a bit, then headed for the mountains.
We got on one gondola that took us up, up, up. That took us to a train that wound us around the mountain and up some more.Then we had to walk through one of the cutest towns ever to get to another gondola. It was fun to pass a group that looked like an alphorn band, but they were all Chinese.
Then we rode our second gondola and then a third one to get to the top of Shilthorn, featured in the movie On Her Majesties' Secret Service. Fortunately, we didn't really get our Bond on. That would have been a little much, especially as thin as the air was up there.
From there, we headed down the mountain and on to Luzern. Again, we had a perfectly located hotel. It was right on the river, just a quick walk to the middle of town. This was the one place that I think we didn't stay long enough in. It felt rushed to see the sights of the lovely town before we had to move on.We did enjoy the farmers market, especially the bread and produce.And we went to see the Luzern Lion Monument.
From there, we had a whirlwind trip to the tree museum. It was hard to find, but well worth it once we found the right place.The outdoor garden displays were so unique and beautiful.And that's where the Swiss portion of our tour ended.

Bavarian Fun

Once we got settled in our apartment in Munich, our next order of business was to go into town to look around and have our first authentically German meal. First, we had to figure out how to pay for U-Bahn (underground train, a.k.a. subway). The instructions were all in German, but we found out that you could buy a day ticket for a group, so that's the route we took. Our apartment was a quick walk from the U3 station that could take us directly to Marienplatz in the heart of the city.
Once we got to Marienplatz, we took a fair number of pictures of the Rathaus, then walked around the walking zone and were shocked at the number of people in lederhosen and dirndles (those clothes that look like Oktoberfest costumes). I assumed that most of the folks we saw must be going to or from work in a restaurant, but there were far too many to attribute to that. They simply were everywhere. It was surprising, but kind of fun, too.
After our walk, we went to a restaurant in the basement of the Rathaus right on Marienplatz in the middle of town. They had a traditional Bavarian menu, so we all got the traditional meals. I had schnitzel and the DH had wurst. It's about as Bavarian as it gets. The meal was good and we enjoyed our first foray into the traditional. After that, we were pretty pooped and headed back to the apartment for some sleep.

The next day, we started at the Viktualien Markt. We bought fresh meat, pasta, bread, and produce to have for dinner that night. The shops were delightful and had all kinds of fresh local fare. I think the DH's favorite was the greek shop with a large variety of olives, marinated garlics, and marinated peppers. It looked amazing and the few things we bought lived up to the anticipation. They were fantastic. We also got a couple of Greek spreads that were wonderful on the fresh bread we had.
After the market, we headed out in the car to the BMW museum. We had to check out the actual showroom first. It was wonderful to see all those beautiful cars. It almost made me want to buy one -- almost! I guess I'm just too practical to have a BMW here, but in Germany they're considered regular cars, not just luxury cars. They were everywhere. We then visited the museam and got to see the history of BMW and many of the engines, motorcycles, airplane engines, and cars that they've manufactured over the years. I loved the BMW Isetta. It's the smallest car I've ever seen, even making the new Smart Cars look big in comparison. It reminded me of a cartoon car. I had to have one of my own, so I bought one that's two inches long. It's cute as a bug.
After the BMW museum, we made our way farther out of town to visit the Dachau Memorial. We did the self-guided walking tour and spent time on the grounds as well. The only rain we had on the trip was while we were visiting Dachau. I guess that's fairly appropriate. It was a stark reminder of what hatred and fear can create and had me thinking about current events regarding Muslims. I was glad we went there, but also glad to leave those painful reminders behind.
We spent the evening at the apartment eating dinner that we prepared ourselves. We had way too much after wanting to try a little bit of everything that looked good at the market. We had also made our first trip to the grocery store and the boys had a great time with that. They loved all the crazy new brands and products that they were unfamiliar with, and seeing the German take on brands they did know. We also played some cards (a great new game to the DH and I called Nerts). The next day we would be moving on to our next destination.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

On Sunday, October 2nd, the DH and I left for the vacation of a lifetime. Our flight was at 1:00, so we had a friend pick us up at 10:00 and then she got our friends Bop and Beep and we headed to the airport. I was so happy that we had a flight a little later in the day (after way too many 6:00 a.m. flights) and I had time to finish up the last minute details that morning.

What I forgot:

• Travel guide books -- I meant to bring the two books that covered the areas of Bavaria, Switzerland, and the Tyrolean alps.
• Conditioner for my hair -- but instead, I did have three tubes of toothpaste.
• Laundry detergent -- Bop and Beep came to the rescue once and the apartment in Salzburg had a bottle of detergent there. Plus, you can always buy it there.

What I took that I should have left behind:

• My swimsuit -- did I really think I would swim laps at some point on this trip? That was ludicrous thinking
• Dansko clogs -- whoever says they're good walking shoes must have never walked all day in them.
  
• Magazines -- they just weighed a lot and I had plenty of other entertainment.

The flight from Seattle to Amsterdam left on time and actually arrived a few minutes early. Everything went without a hitch. We then connected to our flight to Munich and that was quick and easy as well.

Once we got to Munich, it was Monday, and we needed to get the car rental and head to the apartment we would be staying in for the next few days. This was my first practice in-country with speaking German. The attendant at the car rental desk didn't speak English. We made it through OK, with me mostly understanding everything she said. We had ordered a mid-size car that claimed it would be large enough for five adults and four suitcases. I'm not sure what size they expected the people or the suitcases to be, but we'll just say it was a bit of a tight fit all the way around. The Mercedes 5 series is just not that big. We appreciated, once again, the DH's prowess in figuring out how to load big things into small places.

We had pre-ordered GPS for the car, so all we had was the physical address of the apartment, but no maps or directions. When we got in the car, we didn't see any GPS and couldn't figure out how it might be there or how it would work if it were there. I went to find one of the rental workers and two of them came over to show us how the "Navi" worked. It was fully built in and worked like a charm. We nick-named our Navi hostess Gert and she never failed us (even when we thought she was heading us in the wrong direction). She took us straight to the apartment with no issues at all.

We met the owner there and got instructions on what to do, how to get to the U-Bahn station, and what to do before checkout. The first level of the apartment was for the owners. The second level had a bedroom for Bop and Beep, the third level was the kitchen, living room, and bathroom, and the DH and I were in the attic. Except for carrying the bags up the stairs, it was a great setup. The apartment was big and had all the amenities we needed and was very close to a grocery store and public transportation. This trip was starting out spectacularly!

Second Tri

Yesterday, I participated in my second triathlon. I had five weeks between the first and second and spent a lot of time with my trainer focusing on things that would improve my endurance. I can now tell you that I felt a lot better at the end of the second triathlon that I did at the end of the first one.

Over the last five weeks I decided I wouldn't do this one about 35 times (that's at least once a day for the duration). The DH didn't know when I was doing this event and planned a trip with his sons to go see a Raiders game the same weekend. That was the first time I decided I wouldn't do it. I just couldn't fathom taking care of all the race prep and hauling and stuff all by myself. Enter Kathleen, outstanding friend, to the rescue. I asked her if she would help me and she was not just willing, but even excited to be there with me. Having done our first triathlon together, I knew I could count on her support and so I was back in.

Over the next few weeks, there were countless reasons why I didn't need to do the race or didn't want to do the race, or just didn't feel like doing the race. I'd paid the money though, so each time I wavered, I was back in shortly. Then, I started watching the weather. September in Seattle is often beautiful. It starts cooling down and the days are quite lovely -- except when they aren't. The forecast was for ugly storms that day, but you just can't trust the weather report around here. I was in. I was out. I was in again when the forecast was for clouds, but no rain. Then, for a good portion of the night before the race, I woke to hearing stormy, hard rain outside. I was out. I did NOT want to do the race in the middle of an ugly rainstorm. Then, around 3:00 a.m. when I woke up, the storm had stopped. I was back in. When I actually got up, the ground was wet, but it was really nice out. There were high clouds and a little bit of blue sky. I was definitely in. The weather held out for the race. Barely.

The race starts with the swim, so I wore my cycling/running clothes, but flip flops on my feet. There were a bunch of really muddy spots, so I was a bit of a mess by the time I got to the transition area. I had to wash my feet off before putting on the wet suit so I wouldn't get mud all over it. It was an extra challenge, but was actually more funny than difficult. While in flip flops or barefoot, at some point I hit my heal on a rock. I felt it, but didn't think too much of it at the time.

The swim went great and I beat my last time by half a minute. The first transition was quite a bit faster than last time. The bike was fine, but exactly 5 seconds slower than the first race. My second transition was super fast. The run was 3.5 minutes faster than the previous race. Total difference was seven and a half minutes faster. The biggest difference in how I did this race was that I decided not to worry about running the whole 5K run. I walked really fast for a bunch of it. It helped my regulate my heart rate and run faster when I did run. It seemed to be a good strategy. When I finished, I was super tired and my legs were screaming, but I actually felt really good. I'm excited to train more over the Winter and work on improving in all three areas.

Kathleen was there at every leg of the race and it was great to see her at the finish line. After it was done, I went to gather all my gear and we started walking to the car. It was about a ten-minute walk to where she was parked, and while I was walking I realized that my heal hurt where I had hit it on a rock earlier. I thought maybe I had bruised it a little. We packed all the gear in the car and headed home. By the time I got home, my heal REALLY hurt. All the endorphins had officially worn off and I was in pain. Once in the house, I took my shoe off and saw that there was a big circle of blood in the bottom of my shoe and then I saw that my sock had a matching stain. I couldn't really tell how bad it was until after I showered and it was all cleaned off. It looks like I cut it in a little half-moon shape about a half inch across. I had to laugh that my first "sports injury" is a cut from a rock. How silly! I think it will be fine in a day or two though. It already feels better today than it did yesterday, so I'm not too worried about it.

In the end, I'm really glad that I finally decided that I was in and that I finished the race. It was a lot more fun this time around and I was able to enjoy every moment of the camaraderie and support much more than I did last time.

Thanks again, Kathleen, for your help! It made all the difference. I'm pretty sure that I would have decided to sleep through it if I hadn't known Kathleen was up and on her way to my house to pick me up.

Little Bee

I just finished the novel Little Bee. "No one likes each other, but everyone loves U2" is one of the truths in the book. Little Bee is a novel that tells the story of a Nigerian orphan and a British couple whose lives become entwined through some seemingly random events. It's an extremely well-written novel and I'm thinking I need to read Chris Clive's other novel now.

The beauty of the story is in the narrative that Clive gives us alternating chapters between narration from the Nigerian Little Bee and the British Sarah. Both have very different perspectives on their shared story that gives the reader a sense of time and space that might be missing from the telling by either one of them alone.

As the story unfolded, I realized that the themes were much deeper than just the story of these women and the people around them. It is about what it means to be part of a global community and how that may help and harm us. I found it to be a wonderful way to think about these profound ideas while enjoying such a skillfully crafted story.

Silly Dilly Beans

Over Labor Day weekend, the DH and I took a quick trip to his sister's house and came home with all kinds of wonderful things. From the SIL's land, we got red potatoes, yukon gold potatoes, patty pan squash, crookneck squash, pears, fresh eggs, a frozen chicken, and a lot of green beans. We also went down the road a piece and bought watermelon, cantaloupe, and corn on the cob. Then, on our trip home, we stopped in Yakima and bought local honey, peaches, and plums. The entire back of the car was filled with food.

Once we got home, we had to figure out what to do with all of this bounty. I'm not a big fan of frozen beans, so I chatted with a few folks and decided to make Dilly Beans. First, we had to wash all the beans and trim the ends.
Once all the beans were trimmed, they were ready to go. Don't they look wonderful?

Almost good enough to eat! It took two trips to the store to get everything we needed to make the recipe. They only had tiny containers of dill weed at the grocery store I went to on the first trip and that just wouldn't do.
Once we had everything, we put most of the ingredients in the bottom of the jars. I also put the lids in a pan to sterilize and put the vinegar/water/salt mixture on the stove to boil while we stuffed the jars.Stuffing the jars was the hardest part of this recipe. Overall, the recipe is pretty easy, so the hardest part wasn't that bad.Once the jars were filled, we poured in the vinegar mixture, put the lids on, tightened them, and turned the jars over.When I turned them all right-side-up after they were cooled, all but one had sealed. When I got up the next morning, that 12th jar was sealed too.

Of course, now comes the hard part. We have to wait three months for the beans to really pickle before we eat any.

Dilly Beans
For each pint jar of beans, place the following in the bottom of the jar:
1-1/2 T dill seed
1/2 t mustard seed
1/8 t powdered alum
4 cloves garlic
1 sprig dill weed
beans

Brine for all jars:
3 quarts water
1-1/2 quarts apple cider vinegar (not apple cider flavored vinegar)
1 C pickling salt (the green box if you're getting Morton's)

Instructions:
Sterilize jars. Place flat lids in boiling water. Bring brine to a simmer and leave on the stove as you pack the jars. Fill each jar with ingredients, packing the beans as tightly as you can and ensuring that all beans are 1/2-3/4 inch below the top of the jar. Also, make sure that dill does not poke out of the jar. Pour brine in until the jar is filled to within 1/2 inch of the top of the jar. place flat lid on jar and put ring on tightly. Turn jars upside-down to cool. After cooled, turn right-side-up and store for three months while the beans pickle.

Glutton for Punishment

I signed up for another fitness event that happened this week. It was the Islander Aquathon sponsored by BTO Multisport. It would be just a simple 500-yard swim and 5K run. No big deal! In fact, it seemed like such a pleasant event that the DH decided to do it with me. We swam at the pool last Saturday and he got tired out, but his swimming was great. We both were sure he could do it.

Then Wednesday came along. The day was turned out to be beautiful after starting a little wet and cloudy. By the time we got to Mercer Island, it was in the low 70's and sunny. We got checked in and I got my wetsuit on and we headed to the water for the start of the race. They separated the men and women for swimming waves, so the DH had to go in without me.

What I didn't realize while I was that while I was hoping the DH would have a good swim, it was decidedly not good. The water was extremely choppy and by the time he got close to the first buoy, he was in over his head. Literally. The waves knocked water into over his head and he got a mouthful of water. When he tried to get a breath, there was another wave of water. The result was a panicked swimmer who decided to cut his losses and get back to dry ground.

While that was happening, I got started on my own swim. When I got close to the first buoy, I was shocked at how big the waves were. It was so choppy that I felt like I was swimming backwards. I did OK when I was just swimming and not trying to breath or sight, but those two things are required when swimming, especially when it's a race. I got several mouths full of water, but fortunately didn't panic and could keep going. However, for the first time in a long time, I did roll over to my back and try to breath for a moment before continuing the swim. While swimming from the first buoy to the second buoy, it felt like someone was slamming against my right side the entire time and the waves went over my head several times while I was either trying to breath or sight. It was NOT fun. When I finally got out of the water, I was a little beat up and a lot tired. It was much more difficult than any other swim I've done.

Fortunately, when I got back to the transition area, the DH was there and helped me get my wetsuit off. It was much easier with his help than it would have been on my own. I was really glad to see him. When we started the run, he told me about his adventure. I was proud of him for trying to do the swim, because I knew he hadn't spent much time preparing, but I was really glad I hadn't know he was struggling while I was swimming. I just got to find out about it when he was safe on dry land.

The run was super hilly, so I walked up some of the hills, but it was a strong power-walk. We ran most of the time though and our times were OK. I was really glad when we were done. We each got a handful of Dilettante mint chocolate truffles and we headed home to warm showers and soft pillows. All in all, it was a good event, but not our best night.

Thursday, I had thought that I would get up and go to the gym first thing in the morning, but my body said NO. I was really sore from the swim. I took a day to rest and then I was back at it again today. Only two more weeks to my second triathlon!

Music Monday -- Pandora Radio

I know I usually highlight a band I'm listening to on Mondays, but today I've got something totally different. If you already know about Pandora Radio, then I'm not going to tell you anything new. If you don't know about Pandora, then this is your lucky day.

Pandora Radio is the result of the Music Genome Project. It was started in 2000 by a group of musicians analyzing music for commonalities. They capture what is unique about every song, band, album, whatever, and then basically code it with this metadata. Then, you can think of a song, band, or album that represents a certain sound that you like and enter it as a radio station. The system then finds music that has similar "genes" in the pool of all the music that's been analyzed and plays them together as your station. As songs come along that you don't like, you can tag them with a thumb's-down so they won't get played again. The concept is brilliant.

I've been listening to Pandora Radio for at least a couple of years now and one of the best parts is discovering new songs or artists that have a sound that I really enjoy. That, and I get to listen to music that I enjoy without having to put together my own playlists (which I'm really bad at).

Wait, maybe the best part is that it's free. It's just like listening to any other radio station with a few adds here and there, but not too many. You can buy an add-free subscription, but I find the adds to be pretty low-key and they only play one add for every 20-30 minutes that I listen.

Biography Badness

And when I say "badness," I mean the kind that actually is bad, not the kind that is good. I've tried to read two biographies this year. I have still not finished either of them. I usually only read one book at a time and I seldom give up on a book. I've now read several other books while still not finishing the two biographies. Ugh!

The first was inspired by watching Julie & Julia. I thought Julie was a narcissistic windbag, but I was intrigued by Julia. I wanted the whole story so I picked up Appetite for Life. That woman lived a fascinating life.That is, until you drag out the telling of it into 592 pages. There are books about the entire history of the modern world that are written in fewer pages. Worse yet, it started getting tedious before I'd even gotten 50 pages into the book. At almost halfway, I've given up. I'll just have to enjoy the fact that I have an idea of what happens next, because I won't be finishing this book.


The second biography I picked up was Pearl Buck in China. I loved The Good Earth and knew that Pearl Buck had lived in China, so it would have to be interesting. At least it's only 320 pages, so it's not quite as drawn out as Julia Child's biography, but I think it was written by a literary critic. It reads to me more like a dissertation than a novel and I really want a good story to latch onto. There are so many opportunities in the material, but it just never happens. I'm afraid, now that Pearl is living in the US again, that I've lost interest. I won't be finishing this one either.

Music Monday -- Sera Cahoone

On Saturday, the DH and I set out for the No Depression Festival 2010 at Marymoor Park in Redmond. The day turned out to be sunny and warm (after the scary forecast of cool and rainy), so we started out happy. No Depression is an organization dedicated to roots music that used to have a monthly magazine that I subscribed to. They do a lot of music reviews and I've been introduced to a lot of great music through them.

The lineup for the festival included a couple of artists that the DH and I both like, and then a few we'd never heard of. Sera Cahoone is one that I hadn't heard of before the festival and I really enjoyed hearing her. The sets were all only 45 minutes, so I was sad that she couldn't play longer. I definitely could have listened to her a lot longer.

Her last album is called Only as the Day is Long and features many of the songs she sang at the festival. This is the song Baker Lake. It really highlights her lovely voice and guitar playing. I think I'll go buy the album now.

Eat, Pray, Love -- The Movie Review

Last weekend, while Annzy was here, we snagged Sam and sent to a matinee of Eat, Pray, Love, the chick flick of choice for August. I had seen a few minutes of the Oprah show featuring the cast of the movie and it was a total love fest. Perhaps that got my expectations up a little too much. I was expecting something a bit more universally important and perhaps even more profound. Julia Roberts talked about several soul-stirring moments filming the movie. I expected something!

The good: The movie is visually lovely. The scenes in NY, Italy, India, and Bali are all beautiful. I enjoyed everything about the views in this movie. I also thought I liked the premise of a travel writer traveling a little more for herself and going on a journey of self-discovery. And of course, I love Julia Roberts and enjoyed her performance. Overall, the movie is like a Summer novel. It's great to enjoy while on vacation, but really won't stay with you.

The bad: I found the main character to be a little too narcissistic for my taste. I realize this is a journey of self-discovery, which by definition requires a certain level of navel-gazing, but it really was a bit much for me. I was looking for more Aha! moments for myself and found that particularly lacking in this movie.

The main character decides to enjoy a Neapolitan pizza while in Naples. I know very few people crazy enough NOT to do that. The real discovery for the main character in Italy is that she can be a whole, real person all by herself. I realize that this is an issue for some folks and I'm glad she figured it out, but it's not an issue I deal with.

In India, while living in a guru's ashram, the main character's goal is to learn to forgive herself. Although I think this is a very important concept that all of us have to learn, we don't get enough of the inner struggle to really understand that part of the journey.

In Bali, our main character decides that she can love someone without totally losing herself. It has to be conscious though. Again, we know that she has the struggle, but we don't get enough of the inner thought and learning to be able to learn and grow with her.

The ugly: The only ugly in this movie is the very strange side view of Javier Bardem's face. He's a fairly attractive guy, but there's something just a bit off about his face.

The verdict: The movie is lovely and skims over the surface a real issues that lie deep in the ugly parts of our psyches. If you want to while away a hot Summer afternoon in a cool movie theater, this movie is the perfect pick. If you're looking for any depth, then keep looking.

Fun, Food, and Friends

On Friday, we got together with a few friends for a tapas party. We were requested to bring tapas to share with the group, so I had to put my thinking cap on. I don't really know anything about Spanish food, so I went online and looked around. Tapas is either really simple (like bruschetta) or really complicated. Because the party was on a Friday evening, I simply couldn't do complicated. I finally decided to make up my own recipe for empanadas and hope for the best. They ended up being really good! So, because I love you, I'll share my recipe.

Easy Empanadas
1 rotisserie chicken (I like the ones from Costco the best)
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 package taco seasoning
2 packages of prepared pie dough

Debone chicken and put in a large frying pan with tomatoes and seasoning. Simmer on low for 20-30 minutes so the flavors can mingle. Using a large round cookie cutter, cut circles from the pie dough. Dab water around the edge of the dough circle, place a spoonful of chicken mixture in the middle, and fold over to make a turnover. Crimp the edges if desired. You can also mix one egg with 3 T water and brush over the dough to make them shinier.

Bake for 14-16 minutes at 350 degrees or until lightly browned.

Serve with cilantro cream sauce.

Cilantro Cream Sauce
In a blender, mix one large tub of sour cream with one large bunch of cilantro. Add the juice of one lime and salt to taste.

Danskin Triathlon -- Part 4

This is the part where I share my feelings, so get out now if you can't handle the gooey stuff of life.

The journey is still going on, but the Danskin Triathlon was a huge milestone for me. When I signed up, Kathleen and Annzy signed up too and it was so fantastic to know I wasn't doing the race alone. I've also had amazing support from my family, friends at work, at church, at the gym, and everywhere else imaginable. It has been so uplifting to have people tell me along the way that they know I can do it, that they believe in me. Seriously, the girl at the smoothie bar at LA Fitness in Ballard has been awesome! She asked me every time she saw me for months about how my training was going, how long I had to go, and how I was feeling about it. There was also one woman that I ended up sharing a lane with many times at the pool who was always super positive and supportive. I'm overwhelmed now just thinking about how much love and support is out there when you tell people what you're doing.

I've loved meeting up with Kathleen for years now to exercise, but it was even better to kick it up a notch and meet to swim both at the pool and the lake and cheer each other on. I'm so proud of her for doing this and believing in herself. She's a great example to me for doing this with gusto.

Mostly, it's been amazing to have the DH right there by my side this whole way. I don't think he realized what he was getting into when he agreed that I should do the triathlon. I know he'd like to know how fast he could run a 5K, but he has run every 5K right by my side encouraging me along the entire way. I know I've run faster because of his support. He's the perfect partner for me because he has been great at pushing me and still letting me go at my own pace.

During the race, I was extremely emotional. I was actually surprised at myself how emotional I was. I had been super calm during the days leading up to the race, but once I got to the transition area to put on my wetsuit, I started to get really panicked. It was hot and I was a little sweaty and it was hard to get the wetsuit on. It all went on fine, but i was getting a little worked up. When I finally walked out to the swim start, I had major butterflies in the tummy and anxiety on the brain. Fortunately, there were plenty of women talking and laughing and giving each other pep talks, so that made it easier. Once the swim started, I actually calmed down completely. It wasn't as crowded as I expected and I was prepared. It still seemed like an eternity in the water, but I could see the progress and just kept going on. When I finished the swim, I was totally relieved.

In the transition area, taking off the wetsuit and getting ready for the bike, I started to cry. I was just overwhelmed realizing that I was doing it. I was in the race. And I wasn't going to come in last. Then, I had almost a full hour in my own head while I cycled. That's a long time to be alone in a race, but I really wasn't near very many people for my entire bike ride. Part way in, I realized that it was a lonely sport. There were no spectators on I-90, no one doing any cheering there, just some other cyclists all spread out on the ride. I got pretty emotional again with mixed feelings. I was proud of myself for doing this thing and a little lonely doing it all by myself at the same time. The most exhilarated I felt during the whole race was when I got to the half-way mark of the bike leg. It was half over and I was owning it.

By the time I got to the run, I was just plain tired. All I could think about was keeping my feet moving. When I got to the top of the one hill of the course, I was simply relieved. Relieved that I had gotten that out of the way. Then, I just willed myself to keep going the rest of the way. Once I got close to the finish line, I was so happy to see my cheering section and to finish. Honestly though, it was a tiny bit of a letdown. I think I was too tired at that point to really feel the excitement of what I had accomplished.

Later in the day, I went to see if the times were posted on the Danskin website. They were already there and I could check my times and see that I had met all three of my goals that I gave myself. At that point, I cried again, all alone in front of the computer, by myself. I was so happy that I had met my goals!

And with that, I think I've broken it down every way possible now. You don't have to hear any more about my experience unless you ask.