So Glad To Have Found Maru

I swear, this kitty makes me smile...this one is a collection of Maru and some of his favorite boxes...he seems content to just have his head in one if he can pulll it off.

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Eight Years Ago on In My Words...Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

MS Walk 2013

It has only been a week since my last run, but this walk is for a great cause and there was no way I was going to miss it.

My BIL, SIL, friend from highschool, and family friend while growing up all have MS with my BIL being the most recently diagnosed.

Mostly this event is for awareness and fundraising and our group did our fair share. It was a lot of fun to get out with family and friends in honor of those fighting this battle.

There was no timing it (other than your own watch) but I still tracked my 5K walking time and we all enjoyed ourselves.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Races

Pop Spring Visit

Pop and P playing on the last night

Pop made a surprise visit this week. I knew he was coming down a few days before he and P got here. It is a bit of a drive to get here from their house but my sister lives about halfway so they stayed a couple of days at her house before heading down.

They stayed at their friend's house while in town, which worked out for me since we really don't have guest quarters at this time. Pop came over to hang out on Monday and we had lunch and just chilled. After P came to pick him up, they called to see if I wanted to have dinner with them over at their friends. Their friend is actually my former 6th grade teacher so it is really hard for me to not call him by his teacher name but I am getting better about it...LOL. We had a great meal and spent some time after dinner singing and playing instruments (I am limited to the singing part).

Then a couple of days later, we met up at another friends for some jamming. Spent the afternoon singing and playing instruments. Their friends live in the house next door to a house we lived in when I was in middle school. We used to hang out with the elderly couple that owned the house before G and G bought it. So it was a bit of a walk down memory lane for me. After a bit, we walked downtown and had some great pizza and beer before calling it a night.

Finally, on the last night, we met up at a local drinking hole where their friend G was playing and singing with her music partner and was planning to let Pop and P step in for a few songs. It was great fun, and fantastic people watching. Pop and P were a bit nervous, but they did a great job and had a good time. Around 11, we called it a night. I said goodbye that night since they were leaving for my sister's the next day to finish up their trek home.

Overall, it was a great visit and I am hoping to see them later this summer when they make their annual warm weather trek down from WA.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...We Have New Fish

IRL Run

First in real life 5K of the year. It was cold and cloudy, but still a lot of fun. I didn't get my best time, but I also didn't train for it so I am just glad I didn't get my worst time either...LOL.

I picked up my packet yesterday and narrowly avoided ending up on the local news. The director was giving me a hint about where to park when the news crew showed up and wanted him to talk about the race and festival...he asked me to be on camera too, but I was able to beg off (thankfully).

We had to be at the site pretty early so I didn't get a ton of sleep, but that is no surprise on race day anyhow. I parked a bit away from the start/finish line, so I opted to leave my warm up pants at the car. There were about 1800 runners in the 5K portion and then another 1800 did the 10 miler. The course was flat for the most part and that made it even harder for me....I just tried to run as long as I could and then would walk for a bit.

Once I got into the groove, there were a few people that I just tried to stay with for the remainder of the race, and that helped me to push myself a bit. Last curve and the finish line was right there so I ran it in.

This is the first race I have done recently that didn't offer food, or drinks to the finishers. So no new pint glass for me...LOL. I did get a banana and a gatorade from one of the sponsors. I stuck around until the 10 milers started. By that time, my body temp had dropped and the weather also started getting colder. I was chilled to the bone. I stopped for a big coffee on my way home. I got into a nice hot bath that night and soaked with the knowledge that I pushed myself and accomplished a goal.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Racing Again

OSF: Taming Of The Shrew

This Shakespeare play was done in the old language, but had some modern twists. It took a few minutes for my "babel fish" to kick in but that was all it took to fall into the story.

Loved the tattood arms of the characters, and the fantastic band. The set was really well done and went well with the modernized storyline. Loved the boardwalk and the clothes.

I really had to consider the story and who tamed who...once again, this matinee was in the Angus Bowmer theater and had an after talk that was interesting and informative.

I saw this one with my SIL on the weekend and we both greatly enjoyed it.
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Next Year on In My Words...Smile 83/100 OSF: Verona

OSF: My Fair Lady

This was the first play of the season for me. I saw it in preview on my own in the Angus Bowmer theatre during a matinee showing.

The actors were on stage when we came in, warming up and getting into their last minute costume details. They included the audience in the show right from the start and it was pretty cool.

The actors were all great singers and actors and I felt like I was part of the movie (since I never saw the play before). It was very hard to not sing along.

The sets were really cool in a minimalist way...not overly done but they had all the elements there so you knew when they were in the study and when they were at the track.

Freddie was a entity of his own...he was comedic in a completely unexpected way. I think, since we were in preview, that he was adlibing quite a bit of it, but I hope that some of it stayed in play as it was great to see.

There was an after the show talk with Liza Doolittle and it was pretty informative and cool.
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Another post on In My Words...The Arts

The Arts

This area has a lot to offer. We have a major arts attraction, a ski resort, many lakes, mountains and rivers and several colleges. This means that the population is diverse and active on many different levels. While I did go to college here for my first year, I was rarely able to take advantage of the arts or the ski resort while growing up. We just didn't have the money for those kinds of things when I was a kid. I think I saw one play the entire time I was growing up and it was a field trip from the high school.

Fast forward to today. My uncle works for the major arts attraction. He has always offered to get anyone of us in the family comp'd tickets to plays when they are available. I was able to see a play a few years ago when visiting here with my sister and it was great fun. I had forgotten how much I really like plays and musicals.

Anyhow, a few weeks ago, I had seen a review of a current play and decided to let my uncle know I was interested in seeing it and anything else he could get me tickets for this season. I didn't know if it would work out or not, but I figured I better just put it out there.

He called me within the week with tickets for two plays that same weekend (both of the ones I really wanted to see) and then the following week, he had four preview tickets for another play. So after living in this area for my entire childhood and only seeing one play, I have now seen 4 plays in the last two years, and hope to see even more.

I will write up my experiences for the individual plays in separate posts.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Strange Gym People

Making Progress

I am working on a lap blanket for my niece who is currently deployed to Afghanistan. I decided to do a granny square version and I don't have the exact layout of the four colors yet but at least have decided on the colors.

I am working on them a skein at a time, so I have more of the charcoal done at this point. I have about 50 squares done total so far. I only picked up the red this week, but have managed to knock out a few squares of it already. I think I will only being doing a few of the off-white squares as an accent, because I want to use the off-white as the one to connect all the squares when I am done, and maybe as the border as well.

I hope it comes out nice. I picked a soft yarn that I just love! I want to connect the squares like I did in the post I have linked below. I think it makes for a more flexible and finished looking blanket.
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Eighteen Months Ago on In My Words...Finished The Blanket