Oregon

Ok, trying this for the umpteenth time.  I'm going to focus on writing about my half marathons because what better way is there to make running boring but to go on and on about it to non-runners... Actually I take credit for converting several people to becoming runners and of course they rapidly surpass my abilities when they do start but oh well.
This past weekend I did the Portland, OR full marathon.  26.2 miles.  I wanted to run about half of it but ended up walking about 3/4 of it due to not feeling very well but I did manage to get done even if it did take forever. The bad thing is that I know I can do so much better when I don't feel like I'm plodding through cement or have a rock in a stomach so I guess I need to do another one. It will be a while before I do a full but one of these days.
I do have a lot of half marathons on the calendar which I find pretty doable. There's definitely room for me to improve in those too so I'm going to focus on improving my times over the next couple of months.
I'm excited for the next one because it's in Savannah so I'll have a few people cheering me on as well as know a lot of the other runners.  Will be a change from the last two big runs where I attended with just one other person.

January in review

No new pictures to post since I really don't feel like doing the whole download right now but just an update of January activities.
I went to visit cousin Megan in Los Angeles for New Year's so I rang in 2011 with her and Dustin. We did some wine tasting, hiked in San Diego and ate a lot of good food. Some of it courtesy of Dustin, some from Megan and some at really good restaurants.  A nice way to spend a long weekend although it got to be a bit complicated getting back. All's well that ends well I suppose.
I also went to Paris two weeks after that for work which was ok. I really don't get the fascination with Paris. So many other places I'd rather go but that's where the meetings were so I didn't have much choice.  My coworker and I got in a day early due to the flight schedule so we were able to hang around the city some which was at least nicer than only being out by the airport.
I've done some quilting which you've seen in my last entry and I've actually even been... wait for it.... you'd better sit down... doing some cooking and baking. I did a little baking and realized that the main thing I need is an outlet and my coworkers/neighbors seem happy to oblige so I've been making things to take to work. Two friends have birthdays in February so I decided I will make them birthday cakes and when one gave me an idea of a kind he liked I figured I might need to try the recipe in advance because it seemed kind of muzukashi (complicated in Japanese).  I made it this weekend and it all went at work so I guess I did alright. It was a Guinness chocolate cake. Actually not my favorite but the soon to be birthday guy seemed to like it.  Erika came over to help bake and have dinner so I did an easy chicken bake which turned out tasty as well.  I even had leftovers to take to work the next day which was a nice change from the norm. She was in Minneapolis this past weekend and per my request, brought back some wild rice so I'm going to try a few things with that. That's what I call Taste of Minnesota.  The best thing about Erika coming was that she loves to clean. Doing dishes is one of her favorite activities. I know, crazy but when you're cooking and baking, great to have somebody like that around.
Wordy and no pics. Sorry but I'll try to do better next time.
Oh, another crazy idea or so I've been told. I just call it exciting. My friend Mandy is doing the Portland Marathon in October and asked if I wanted to join her. I was going to say yes to the half but decided to go all the way and yesterday I signed up to run the full marathon. Granted, I will be doing my walk breaks but in some fashion I will be moving myself the entire 26.2 miles.  Hey, that's about the distance from my parents' to Bemidji so maybe I'll need to make that a training run if I'm in Minnesota sometime. Just kidding. Not going to happen when there's a perfectly good lake there to go around.

Quilting Projects

Here are a few projects that I've done in the past few months. The first is a baby quilt for some friends who are expecting their first and the second is for my niece's birthday.  Very simple but I still try to make them bright and lively.

Maybe Annually?

Wow, so I know. It's been forever but new year so new chance? I was reading a quilting blog and have been inspired so maybe I'll post pictures of some of the projects I've done lately. I do the simplest projects imaginable but I love the fabric selection process so they end up cute regardless. I'm also pretty proud of the fact that they are tailored to who I'm making them for. I've asked my nieces and nephews for favorite colors and such. I ended up doing one with frogs and purples, greens and blues that was pretty fun and a baseball/red one as well. Now for myself I might do baseball and blues but never the combinations I did. I even use pink a lot which is a stretch for me.

On another note, I did another typical Jen move and signed up for a half marathon even though I haven't really run at all for nearly a year. I did one 18 months ago so I should be fine right? Whatever. I realized that I only have six states to cross of my list and the combination of needing to go to Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon and Half was too tempting. It's an out and back from the site of the Murrah Building which is definitely the place I want to see there. May 1 so I need to get a move on. Last week I did about 9 miles total with the longest being a bit over 3 so that was a start but with the ice here this week I haven't done any. Hopefully I can still get my 4 or so in on Saturday morning so it won't be a complete loss.

I promise to have some photos next time. I've finished or nearly finished (thanks to my aunt for doing the tying and binding at times for me) 4 quilts in the past month so I have a few that I can show pics of when I'm not so lazy that I don't want to look for the cables to download them.

Not Quite Quarterly

Yes, I know it's been a long time but if y'all would get on facebook you'd be able to keep up just fine :) Since February nothing much has happened. Just kidding. I've been busy and I guess since it was that long ago, first and foremost I must mention that I have a permanent job that I love. Well, as permanent as any job is but I'm cautiously optimistic. It's challenging, interesting and exactly where I want to be. Actually I don't know if Atlanta is exactly where I want to be but so far so good. There are quirks about this place that I will never like but there is a lot to like too with the main thing being that I have a great job.

I think my church is the thing I like second best although that's going through a change too but I think it will be ok. Fr. John is retiring after being priest there for 11 years and we will now have Fr. Jeffrey. I've only seen him once but knew Fr. John ok and will miss him. Since the new guy is from New Orleans though I have high hopes.

Another thing I love is my apartment. I'm pretty sure it's my favorite of all the places I have lived. My bathroom in Japan may have been a bit better but not much. It's got all the things I love. A balcony, huge windows, it's on the 4th floor so I just look out at the tops of trees, a walk in shower, an open kitchen with an island and more. The only thing that I really don't like about it is the address. I live on Confederate. What's a Northerner to do when you move South though? (I thought about using the Y word but I hate the baseball team to much to call myself that.)

Speaking of baseball, I've caught a few games this year. I went to a Braves/Cubs game courtesy of work, then a Twins/Boston game courtesy of a friend and a boss who lets me fly to Minnesota for a day game in the middle of the week, then a Braves/Phillies game courtesy of a friend, then a Phillies/Twins game in Philadelphia, then a Braves/Nats game courtesy of work and finally last week a Rochester Red Wings/Gwinnett Braves game. (Twins/Braves AAA teams) Gwinnett is a suburb of Atlanta so not too far. As far as watching AAA ball, it was great because the seats were cheap and good but I hate to tell you that the Twins have already called up their main talent. They were swept in a four game series although Jacque Jones did have a 4 RBI night the day after we were there. Also saw Wilson Ramos in his last game before he was traded to the Nats. Toby Gardenhire and Brendan Harris were the others we knew. Pat Neshek is with them but didn't play the game we went to.

Oh, the pic is the new comforter set I bought today. I was using a great quilt that Grandma made but it was too small for a queen sized bed so I took advantage of my Target gift card and a sale. And yes, my whole wall is pretty much a window which I absolutely love. My living room is floor to ceiling windows, even bigger!

Dublin

Since I was reminded today that I've been to Dublin by my lower pay check, I figured I should finally write about it. Even though the airline doesn't charge us, there are still fees at international airports that they don't take care of for us. Hence, my Dublin trip was paid for by a $49 deduction from my check.

Dublin was great. It wasn't real warm but it stayed dry for the most part, we stayed at a hotel that was extremely convenient to everything and I discovered a new favorite drink. Old cities tend to be more walkable with everything closer together and that was the case in Dublin. I think all the sights we saw were within a 15 minute walk of the center of the city. In another trip I would love to see the countryside but with just two days, staying in the city was really the only option. Another cool thing I did was take a tour of the old Jameson distillery. It's not where they make their whiskey any more but it was from the late 1700s until the 1970s when they built a new modern facility further south. It was really interesting and I had a free sample at the end. There was talk about what people mix their Jameson with and even though mixing it with anything was greatly frowned upon a few years back, it's been gaining acceptance. The tour guide said her favorite (mixing it with ginger ale) is popular in Britain so I gave it a shot and loved it. I guess that will be my St. Patrick's Day drink at the local Irish pub.

Here are a few pics and you can find the rest of the gallery here.

Note the date and place on the memorial from the church. Pretty sad to think that the situation remains in some ways the same.

2010

So the not quite daily is really not even quite monthly. Maybe I should make a New Year's resolution to blog more although I can tell you right now that will probably not happen. However it's kind of funny that while I spent most of 2009 unemployed I feel like I've taken on more in 2010. I hope that it's a better year for me and a lot of people out there who had a miserable past 12 months or so.
So update on me personally: In November I started a contract position at Delta, my dream job. I'm still waiting for it to turn permanent but crossing my fingers that it will be soon. So far I love my job, partially because I love the industry, well, probably mainly because of that. I have never had a job outside the airlines that I found so stimulating, challenging, maddening, interesting and exciting. It's definitely the right fit for me. Not to mention the travel perks. I've only taken advantage of them once so far with a trip that could have easily been driven but next week I hope to get out of the country for the first time since I moved back from Japan. My poor passport has been feeling sorely neglected. It's funny that I used to use it so much that I ran out of pages in less than three years and now three years later those extra pages have been used maybe once. Oh, the trip I'm hoping to take is to Dublin, Ireland. It'll only be a few days but fun to go somewhere I haven't been.
Another project that is taking some time is that I've finally started running pretty consistently again. I found a great running store here that is only about half a mile away and they have a run club once a week. I've been a pretty regular attendee so one of the staff asked me to be one of the coaches for a beginning group of women training for a 5k. It's great to have that extra commitment to get me going and so much fun to find other people to get out there with. Phidippides is the store that I run with (I know it's a strange name but that's the guy who ran the first marathon so it's appropriate.)
A few other items of note: My friend Marnie has really exciting news to share with her crafts now being sold in New York at the Museum of Modern Art. The link to her blog is on the right (Karger-Tift) so you can check them out. Way to go, girl! :)
On a completely different note, I've been completely glued to the coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. I guess I'm pretty fascinated by tragedy as anybody who knows of my fascination with New Orleans can tell you. I'm watching the telethon right now. I remember watching the one that took place after 9/11 and I think that was the first time that all the networks had gotten together to do something like this. Since then it has happened for the Asian tsunami I think as well as after Hurricane Katrina. Just a note to put the magnitude of this disaster in perspective: Death toll: 9-11 attack: 2,992, Asian tsunami:230,000, Hurricane Katrina: 1,836, earthquake in Haiti: still very uncertain but recent estimates have put it at 200,000. While this is less than the tsunami, the devastation is so much more concentrated. Haiti as a whole is smaller than the state of Maryland and has a population of less than 7 million. That's like Dallas-Ft. Worth losing 200,000 people. The other part of the tragedy is how little Haiti had to begin with. Heartbreaking. One story that particularly resonates with me is the loss of UN life. It is the single worst loss in the history of the UN. When I think of soldiers giving for their country, I also think of these UN workers who are giving not only for the sake of their nation but for all of humanity. Not fighting but keeping the peace. They are definitely heroes.

That's probably enough of my rambling until St. Patrick's Day or so.... Take care and give if you can. I would encourage people to give to The Bush Clinton Fund bushclintonhaitifund.org or Doctors without Borders doctorswithoutborders.org