An urban hike

The SU fitness and wellness challenge occurs each year from mid January through early March.  Kate, Tonja, Kathleen and I at work formed a team with the clever name of Advisors Survivors and amidst our busy schedules, have managed to do a wonderful job.  We are currently in fourth place!  This is our last week, but I hope that some of the healthy habits that I strive for during the challenge will stick: daily flossing, more physical activity, stair climbing, spiritual/emotional/intellectual wellness, etc. 

Tyler is a good sport and has ventured out on many walks with me during this challenge and in years past.  Today's walk took us along and under Interstate 90, through the Mercer Slough trails, and back.  Thanks once again to Instagram for livening up my photos.

A peak of downtown Bellevue from the trail...

Happy Trails!

a staple hike

Twin Falls has definitely become our staple hike when we are short on time or just want to get out of the house for a nearby hike.  A few nice things about it: you can count on it being a good option year-round (regardless of the weather), it's close-by, it has challenge to it but doesn't wipe you out, and last but not least, the falls are beautiful.

One of my fav. memories of this hike was bringing Kari, Bruce and Raylee here for Raylee's first hike!  Ahhhh, the memories:

Here are the photos from today, courtesy of my amazing new camera!

One of the best views on the hike requires travelling down then up a steep staircase!  Another contributing factor to that wonderful jello-leg feeling of hiking :)

Yay, Instagram!

Hope we get out and enjoy the great outdoors more often in the coming months!

Hope y'all are having a wonderful weekend :)
 

January and February Valentines

Wow, I've been eating and drinking well this week...in celebration of Karlie, our January Valentine, and Valentine's Day itself.

On Saturday, we met Karlie and Jordan at Urban Enoteca for a fun visit, incredible food and amazing wine.  We'll have to head back there for wine tasting at some point.  What a great find! 

YUM!

Very cool ambience.

Who would have thought that roasted cauliflower could taste so good?! 

For Valentine's Day, Tyler and I tried a new restaurant in town: Novilhos Brazilian Steakhouse.  It was fabulous!  All you can eat gourmet salad bar and cute waiters who carve your meat at your table.  A fun experience. 

Here I am playing with the new camera.  Love the flowers, thank you Tyler!!!

Our 'zert!  Brazilian flan.  Incredible! 

Good times.  Now, back to my regular eating and no drinking schedule :) 

If you didn't see this on facebook already, check out this mock ice cream recipe.  All it takes is a frozen banana, a blender, and 2 TBSP cocoa powder and it is sooooo delicious!

Redhawks B-ball!

Emily and Todd met us for dinner and a Redhawks game last Saturday.  For dinner, we enjoyed Indian food at Chutney's, one of our favorite Indian restaurants!  Check it out next time you're in lower Queen Anne.  I had eggplant bharta, a meal I could eat 3 times a day and never get sick of, it seems.  :)

It was great to catch up with Emily and Todd.  They may have even talked us into going camping next summer!  Oh Lordy.  Good thing it will be near Leavenworth because the beautiful scenery will distract me from not having heat and a comfortable bed. 

On to the b-ball game.  It was *amazing*!  Y'all know I love my Redhawks, they are so exciting to watch.  And even more exciting when they actually win.  Whawhoo!  I got to test out my new camera! 

Super fans:

Almost all of the lights were turned out in the arena, so I consider this a decent photo given that fact.

The new camera has high def video apparently.  Check it out!  This play, at the end, gets really good!  Cervante Burrell played an incredible game!

http://youtu.be/GNFlHaKWjJw

I should also say that the two best parts of the game were the dude sitting in front of us who you hear commenting in the video (he was yelling and "directing" the game the whole time!) and Todd's "short" joke!!!! 

 

*Go* Redhawks!

International Dinner 2012

Every year, SU has one week in January which is designated as International Week, or i-Week, as it is now called.  Lots of fun happening during that time and the wrap-up event is the International Dinner.  Campion Ballroom gets filled to the brim with students, alumni, families and friends.  The food and entertainment are superb!  I had not been to the International Dinner since 2009.  This year, my office joined in the fun.  Here we are after celebrating a great evening!!!  After seeing the picture, I say, "Oh, Audrey!"

The food was incredible.  My favorite was the african chicken and indian garbanzo bean dish.  Of course, I can't recall the names (oops)!

For entertainment, we saw flamenco dancers, a mariachi band and dancers, taiko drummers, and carribean musicians!  Very fun.  Here are a few, not so great, pictures.

The videos capture the atmosphere a lot better, I must admit!
Sorry, embedding the videos is not working this morning but do take a few minutes to check them out on youtube, you'll be glad you did! :)

http://youtu.be/awgLeXfdzPU

http://youtu.be/yYFn-oFzjhU
Here is Ring of Fire, Carribean Steel Drum style!

http://youtu.be/n0XSdsa-3ac

The not so pretty part of Snow in Seattle

This will be the last of the snow posts for awhile (I hope), but I wanted to at least tell those of you who don't already know that our snow storm didn't end as pretty as my last posts depicted it to be.  After 3 snow days, I ventured down to my parents house to find a complete mess.  Roads were closed, power was out, ice lingered, trees were down.

Ugly!

Thankfully no buildings, persons or animals were hurt in the storm at my parents' house, but there was a lot of damage to fences unfortunately.  We spent most of last weekend cleaning up the mess.  I wish I had better pictures of it.  It was incredible how much damage the ice caused.  Hoping for tamer snow and ice next time around!

Snow, courtesy of Instagram

I've become a little obsessed with Instagram, an iPhone app that filters pictures.  I may have confessed this obsession publicly before but I might as well confess again because the being home alone in the snow for 2 DAYS STRAIGHT has renewed my obsession.  Here are a few pictures and a little story.  It all started with this photo where I declare my readiness for snow (approx one week ago):

All bundled up waiting for the bus.

Then, over the weekend, snow came, but not much.

Buttercup and I enjoyed relaxing by the fire in Auburn:

Fireplace relaxation, cozy socks, and my baby blanket have become a necessity as of late:

Facing outward this time:

Today I got out of the house for a *cold*, slippery and muddy walk:

The trees sure were pretty. 

And then there was ice...and lots of it!

And now it's snowing again.  But I think you've seen enough of my pictures.  Happy Winter 2011-12!

The unfortunate part of all of this is that mom and dad are without power, have trees down and fences torn apart.  Stay safe everyone!