I'm a MESS

Oh my God, my EGO is shot to hell!!

I went to the gym w/ Kenny Williams today to get SOME tips...and what do ya know....I'm pretty much doing it ALL wrong!! Sweet, and you know what the kicker is??? I'm a Physical Therapist, and a Certified Strenth and Conditioning SPECIALIST...and I can't do a flippin' squat w/o a HUGE sway back!!!!

And here I was tellin' other people (mostly Mike) what to do, and how to do it...hmmm, maybe that's why Mike's whole leg is numb, and he had an MRI today to see if his back is ok...he's been to Chiropractic, Massage, Coaches, Physical Therapist, Acupunture, Natropaths...but the buzz down the side of his leg keeps him up all night...and that's a problem for ME..so we are gettin' him fixed...cause I'm sick of sleepin next to a floppin fish all night...that's how he turns over, like a dying fish...

Anyway back to the story about ME...my knee comes too far forward, my back is super week, my gluts suck, my hamstring are hamnoodles...but the good news is we're gonna fix it....so there's lots of room for improvement...which means I'm gonna get faster...aahh yeeeaahh, that's my religion!!

Lazy Saturdaize!

Mike and I enjoyed a lazy morning...at 12:30 we finally got on our bikes and rode to the closest place for bagels...Great Harvest Bread co....only to find out the DON'T have bagels....but they DO give out HUGE free samples of bread...











Mike was able to squeeze in TWO samples before our sandwiches were ready...We had a nice morning, beautiful day!!

Oh, before we left we made Currry beans...w/ long grain rice, wheat berries, tons of spices (ginger, cumin, tumeric, red pepper, garlic, cloves), mike cut up the Cilantro, red onion, and green onions, mixed in Chicken broth, Pinto and Adzuki beans, and vinegar (got the basic idea from a Curry cookbook my mom gave me...funny there was NO curry...but definately the best beans ever!!)

Garage Time Trial

Cleaned up version of Mr. and Mrs. Murdin...

Friday night Mike's team, Garage, had there annual get together at "The Garage" bowling/pool hall in Capital Hill. This year they were joined by riders of First rate mortgage (Kenny Williams, Mick Walsh, and their VERY significant others Annette and Martha), and BRI (Higgy, Doug Davis, Deacon), and Broadmark (Tubby, Morgan, tall guy cant remember his name, Brad?...super nice), and Recycled (Nick, Lang, possibly more)...along w/ the regular Garage boys (Flavio, Derrick, Jason, Mike, Lucca, Jay, Jay's neighbor Kyle, John, and the new guy). And of course, Lisa was out in style!! Unfortunately, the usual fun group of significant others weren't there....but Lisa and I had a good time









Hey Hey Ladies....we missed the rest of you..









Ok, so here's how the Time trial works....each person has to drink a beer through a straw...one at a time...as soon as the first person is done, the next one starts...and whichever team of 4 finishes first wins!!









Damn do these boys SUCK...and they won convincingly...

Historical Concord New Hampshire

So, after our red eye flight...I tried to nap but was too excited to be at my Grandparents, so Mike and I went into town to get the party supplies and tour the city of Concord a little.

One of my favorite things about the east coast is it's rich history. I don't find that as much in Seattle.








The Capital building, I remember as a kid Dad used to tell us the roof (which is gold) was made of REAL gold....I'm still wondering..







Franklin Pearce...one of our first presidents, and the name sake of the Law school my father graduated from (just 1.5 yrs ago)!!








History in the making..

Couldn't find this guy in the history books, but he was guarding the entrance....nice guy though!

Final days in NH...

The Hulser girls...none of whom actually have that name....but we come from the Hulser side of the tree...it's now the Murdin/Baird/Shamatha girls...Kira is our only cousin on that side of the family....it was great to spend time w/ her. She and I did our hair and make up....great girl time!! She got liquid eye liner!










I'm down to one cup a day!







What the????








Mike, enjoying some 'vacation food'..."it's only two half doughnuts!!"









'Extreme' Ping Pong..









Auntie Kathy, and Jeff were WAY too good to be on the same team, we quickly discovered....









Isn't my sister pretty? and well, people say we look alike...so hey, I've got that goin' for me!











Grand master chef, gardener, hostess, planner, organizer...my Grandmother! I hope someday to be able to create the dishes she served us! I'm grateful to have such a wonderful chef to teach me the art of cooking!

Surprize!! Happy Birthday Dad!!

What a Classy Party! See the banner that says, "Surprise"...and the Birthday hats, and those annoying blow-noisy-roll-up-paper things...








Dad trying to recover from the shock...and Grandfather close by, 'just in case'...Grandfather did a great job of occupying Dad's attention...Dad arrived, and Ab/Jeff/Mike were all 3 min behind him coming from the airport...I, of course, was upstairs doing my hair and makeup w/ my cousin Kira....but I snuck out the back door to meet Ab/Jeff/Mike in order to make our grand entrance and holla' "Surprise"...it worked perfect...for the first time in my life, my father was speechless (but it was a fleeting moment)...what a treat to give him such a great surprise!!






Abby and Aunt Kathleen enjoying some 'catching up'....and yes that is a huge stuffed Giraffe behind them...a fixture of my Grandparents house since as long as I can remember. Funny how after time, it doesn't seem strange at all....doesn't every one's grandparents have a huge stuffed Giraffe in their den??






From the left, cousin Kira, Grandfather, and Ab...just hangin out!





Like most 9 year old kids, Kira's enjoyment of sitting around talking, was short lived. Luckily, Jeff (hmm, what is his title to her, it's her cousins' husband...anyone??) was happy to kick the soccer ball around w/ her

Cheers, Happy Birthday Dad!







We decided to go for a walk in the woods, to soak up the awesome Northeast Fall...that's Mike, Ab, Grandmother, Aunt Kathleen, and Dad.






A nice Romantic shot...thanks Mike!




Aww, Smoochie Poochie!
This walk was supposed to be a gentle walk in the woods...but it had been so long since anyone had walked these trails and they had all grown over...it ended up being more of a hike. Grandmother has been battling Plantar facitis, and this was her first walk in a while...too much...but they were given a ride by a gentleman who's house we happened to pass and it turns out the house my Grandparents have lived in for 25yrs was his mothers house...CRAZY huh..

After workin' up an appetite w/ the walk, we enjoyed a delicious seafood casserole, fresh veggies, salad...and






The cake!
I think Dad was a little overwhelmed. He's prob not had this much fuss over him in a long time! But hey, it's fun to be King, for a day!! Notice his crown!! (He's always saying, "I'm the King of..fill in the blank")





After dinner, Mike and Kira played one of those nameless games my Grandparents have had for as long as I can remember...there are 3 pegs..and you try to move the stack of squares of decending sizes, but you cannot put a larger one on top of a smaller one...sounds fun huh?

That was that...good old Birthday Party...with family from all over (Seattle, Flagstaff, New York, Ackworth NH, and Weare NH)....

Beautiful New Hampshire in the Fall...

Look at all those colors....








This is Goffstown, what a perfect day...we had to stop..

and play....on the bridge...






and play on the gaurd rail...there's no picture of me because I couldn't stay on it very well...







Back on the road to Grandmother and Grandfather's house....





Here we are...arriving about 10:30am....Friday the 13th...safe and sound!!

The Trip...another one, for a GREAT reason!!

Ok, so this last weekend...me and Mike, my sister and her husband Jeff, my aunt and cousin Kira...all seceretly planned a cross country surprize party for my Dad's birthday! We met up at my Grandparents in Weare, NH...near Concord..

So, Mike and I had a red eye leaving Seattle at 7:30PM...then to Las Vegas...then Philly...THEN Manchester, NH...it was quite an ADVENTURE! Here's how it went..


On the plane...they don't call it 'red eye' for no reason!


On the bus, between planes, in the Philly airport, makin' the most of it...poor lady who sat next to us got roped into taking our picture...





They had these great chairs...to help pass time in the airport...


This is what we DIDN't get to do in Philly, and we Sprinted throught the Las Vegas airport too...seeing as we landed w/ 3 min to make our connection...we're still sore from the effort..


Runs like a chicken, smells like a chicken, looks like a chicken...must be a chicken!! Delerium had sent in ...but we made it...another adventure in this game of life...

"SSomebody SStop Me" (the Mask)

Mike got my Mtn bike in ship shop shape last week...it's only been a 2yr process. The frame was Lisa Matlock's from when she rode for the Ford Pro Mtn bike team...the next year Ford joined Basis on our road team (and I inherited the frame), then our mechanic Eric Jellum had all the components just laying around his house and he sold them to me for like $200...wheels and all...that was 2005...and today Oct 2006 is the inaugural ride on this bad boy....









Check out the air on this wheelie ("You got like 3 feet of air on that one" Napolean Dynamite)...and that awesome building (apparently it used to be a Monastery....Mike says that word monster-ory...w/ his cute Swedish/English/lazy accent)

So we had a fun easy ride on these trail on Juanita (Finn Hill)...and at 1hr I almost started to sweat, so we immediately abandoned...this IS off season, there are STRICKT rules to abide by...

So we headed home, and did a HARD CORE workout....and I mean it...a full 20 min of Core ex given by Allison Powers....we soon realized we are Noodle Core, but we'll be HARD CORE by Jan....and SUPER SORE CORE tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day....






OH, I'm also working on creating Velvety foam AT HOME...and for the first time I got some!!! Look!







She looks better from this angle...


Ok, hi ho hi ho....it's off to work I go.

BTW, thanks Brook and Dily (?) for the supportive comments...I really do appreciate it. I know I'm hard on myself, if it was someone else I wouldn't let them talk like that about themselves....interesting!!

Did ya'll notice the new COUNTER....you're being watched...about 15ppl told me to do that....great! One more thing for me to check 5million times a day...I wonder if I check it all the time if it will look like people actually read my nonsense?

Track Nats Wrap up

Ok, I've learned a ton...the hard way. Now I focus on putting it to good use...train hard, come back in Jan and try again!

Let's see the fun parts of this trip that I haven't mentioned....


Sima and I take a break to pose, during some warm up or cool down time....she was a great roommate...it's so fun to get to know new people...we had a good time together!! Well, I did...





Here's the youngin's w/ Floyd. Shelby (on the R) is a awesome young sprinter...very impressive! Sorry, I don't know the other girl, but I'm sure she gave it her all too, and probably did well (she wore National kit stuff, so she must be good, right?)




After racing....it was Italian eating time...w/ Julia and Matt Whiteside and my big sis' Abby Shamatha!! Yummy!!

BUSTED big time!!



Oh yea, my bike was underweight...by a LOT...so I just attached a tool kit to my seat post....and down tube


Julia was so generous and sweet all week to me...she's great!!




Now Matt, that's a different story...he's Cooky...and Ab? well she's just playing along...







My big sis and I enjoyed time at Laguna Beach...

We had a great day...breakfast, beach, manicure/pedicure/eyebrow wax, lunch...all filled w/ non stop chatting! Don't we look SO much alike?? I didn't realize it till we saw these pictures...it's COOL!

Luckily we will see each other next weekend too...that's all I can say right now...