Smorgis-borg

Here we have meatballs, mustard Herring, Garlic Herring, breads, cheeses, Lingonberry sauce, smoked Salmon, Julmust (like special coke only sold at christmas time in Sweden)...yummy yummy






Mike's diggin in!





We pause, before we inhale!!






Oh and a LITTLE pie, and a dab of whipped cream and ice cream!!

The good stuff! PRESENTS, and Loved ones!

Thanks Santa!!







Cutie, opening somethin' good!!

Ohh wee, like a kid again!!







One family tradition, CANDLES...on Christmas morning....

Yea, Lake Vue Gardens Christmas Party!

Me and my girls, Kari and Tara...arrive to the partay






Me and My baby...one more year!

Our one and only Sharon Ceaser won "Employee of the YEAR", and she deserves every little bit, Congrats!!








Kari and Me...I'm feelin a little pale here!!


Oh my goshness...Chris went bazoonies, and danced his heart out, it was FABULOUS...he cut a rug like NO other!!






Sharon, Habib, Me and Kari...posers!!





Yea, the HOTies stop for a shot!! And me!

Christmas and More!

HO HO HO, Merry Christmas everyone!!!
It's 7:45am on Christmas morning....the candles are lit (thanks Mom, see the Angels??)...







Santa stuffed the stockings (and sequence Santa hat from Mom, I got one too, but I had to wear mine, yea it's on my head right now)
...Mike is snuggled in bed...and I just made myself a delicious Gingerbread Latte w/ my new frother mug from Starbucks, in my new Starbucks coffee mug (the one that looks like the paper cups you get at Starbucks)...Why? you may ask do I already have gifts...well, lucky for me, in Sweden they open gifts on Christmas eve!! So, Mike and I opened all the gifts we had for each other...but saved any gifts my family sent, seeing as they intended those for the REAL Christmas morning...Plus, this way you pretty much get TWO Christmas's!








I know it may be hard to see all those gifts under our HUGE tree, with the full size star! Thank goodness for secret santa gifts, or we would have been without any tree at all!








Here we are enjoying Christmas Eve Swedish pancakes (Mom sent the mix from Lindsbourg, Ks...and the maple syrup is from Weare, NH from my Grandparents, and the Lingonberry sauce is from IKEA!!)

Remember Thanksgiving? I do

For Thanksgiving this year, my side of the family all met up in Flagstaff, Arizona at my Sister Abby and Brother in law Jeff's house! We had a great time. It was nice to have time to get caught up with people you just don't get to see enough! So, let's see what we did....



The first night, we had a Sushi party! I brought some Ahi Tuna from the Fish Market in Seattle. Abby and Jeff had the Sushi Kit, and all the fixins.




We all helped to get some pictures hung...those are my brother's Sam (right) and Isaac (left) behind the pictures...not IN the pictures...those are Africans...Ab got those in West Africa when she was in the peace corps for 4+ years...I think they are Bitiques (oh gosh, not sure how to spell that)


Mike and I headed out for a ride the next morning...and can you guess who didn't bring a bike, helmet, clothes, or shoes...That would be Mike. So here he is on my sister's (5 foot 6ish, he's 6 foot 2) mountain bike, with the pump up helmet (remember those, you pump them to make them smaller on your head...), wearing my sister's mountain bike shoes, and my Starbucks women's team Kit...yea, he's is HOT!!!


I love my sister's house. Here is the front entrance!

One of the back patios...what a great place for breakfast. Mike and I are so jealous, our condo doesn't even have a back door!

Oh this kitchen, with all those awesome windows! And so much space. With granite counter tops, stainless appliances, tile floors...fabuloso!!

And the newest edition, the saah-wheat hot tub!! Very nice, on cold nights...that was fun!! Looking at the stars, wrapped in warm water, but your nose is cold...it was great...until you had to get out!


The rest of the clan arrived. From the left that's Sam, Isaac, Jeff, Ab, Mom...Mike's hair is on the very left.


We had a fire outside one night too. It was beautiful! We were all trying to take pictures...this is Mom and Sam.


Then it was the big day....Let's get cookin'!

Ab and Mom makin the stuffing!

I'm sorry I know this may look a little gross to most people...but I have to share this experience...Has anyone every had a Kosher, Organic (hippie) turkey? Cause we had to pull out TONS of feather root things!! It was CRAZY, like these little straws sticking out everywhere...Ab was thoroughly grossed out, I was intrigued, and Mom was concerned! We tried to get them all out, but it became too much of a job....so we opted just NOT to eat the skin (unfortunately, cause I don't know what you think, but that's the best part!!).


And here are the boys, eager to help out. But just playing a game instead!!


The dining room table...notice the hutch on the left as well, below displaying Ab and Jeff's Pottery set...


Well, that was great trip! Sorry it's taken me so long to get this up. Life is great, and very full!

Merry Christmas!!

Snow Daize!

Man, I feel like a kid again (and act like one too)...we got a real bone-a-fied Snow Day here in Seattle! It wasn't just because of snow, but because it was mixed w/ ice.

It took Mike 3.5hrs to go ONE exit on 405 Monday night, and me 2 to go 4 miles.


So, I bundled up...got some things done...did my workout...and never left the house!

But, no excuses today....although it's 8:30 and I'm still in my pajamas..."I"m waiting for it to warm up!!!" , that's what I told Mike...who brought his computer home, and is 'working' from home, in addition to enjoying toast, graonola, coffee, and the news! I'm sure he'll get down to buisness as soon as I leave!!

Ok, I still have tons of pictures, Mike and I went to Flagstaff to my sister's house for Turkey day...and Mom and my brothers were there. It was so awesome! Just don't have the time to download all of them right now...

Yeah, back on Blogger!

Blogger Diet!

Yea that's my excuse for not blogging in like a month! So, are you ready to get caught up??

We'll go from oldest to newest: get a cup of wonderful coffee and enjoy:


Carrie Cheadle (MY sports psychologist, or mental training coach) came to do a workshop for some local teams (Starbucks, and Group Health). It was great, held at the Starbucks headquarters, COOL HUH!

And here she is, THE Genius, and wonderful person she is!! I cannot stress enough how much she helped me get through this season. YOU TOO can find out more at: carriecheadle.com (I bettcha $20 you'll thank me for it!!)




And she's VERY serious, seriously!! Actually, we were headed to a 'Ho Down'...as in Square dance party...I was awesome (at watching)...I could have robbed a bank on the way, but they were all closed!




She's cuttin' a rug, that girl! Watching her and Steve Higgins was a Hoot. Steve is a really great cyclist and coach!







Here is the top secret Starbucks cycling team meeting. They are a great group of women! Their energy and enthusiasm is contagious! We're gonna have our best year yet! I announced my coaching business, and WHAMO great response! Oh so fun, to have so many athletes on the same team!! Wanna learn more? Check 'em out: www.starbuckscycling.com

Oh yea, I got this MASSIVE flat tire (lost like 1/2 the tire, NO IDEA what happened there...I wish I could say there were mind altering substances involved, but sadly that was NOT the case)...and by this picture it looks like Mike is changing the tire for me....DON'T BE FOOLED. He was in charge of airing up the donut tire..
Itook off the LUG NUTS (funny word, BTW), AND Jacked up the car, before changing the tire...yea, I think he forgot I'm a GIRL, and those are BOY jobs...I guess not in SWEDEN! But the good news is, I am very confident that I can change a flat tire now (Chrissy remember me saying, "I'm confident I know where we are going" on the way to the Bisbee TT, and 10 min later we were at the Mexican border...oops)







Here's the Starbucks Women's' team...ready to rock!! On a group ride, with some fun drills (well, I thought they were fun...)

I'm tucked in there squatting...

So, that's what I've been doing since my last entry!

Look what the cat dragged in!!! Chrissy and Phil!

Yea!!! Chrissy and Phil stopped by on their way to Canadian Cross Nationals last night! It was fun to see them again! They are such a cute couple! It's great to see Chrissy so happy!

So we took them to our favorite (and only) resaurant...Mia Roma's. It was yummy...good for sleeping well.

This AM we found out the ferries (the boat kind) were cancelled due to high winds early....so good thing they didn't try to get up earlier!!







If you have a microscope, you can see that's me and Chrissy....just kidding, Phil takes great pictures...







Thank godness for Paint...

They're back on the road again now...good luck Phil...kick butt!!