Blogger is back!

Okay people, it wasn't even my fault that time! I tried 2 or 3 times to blog last week, and it just wasn't happening! Blogger was down, boooo.

I think I am allergic to work. I don't sneeze all weekend, and then I come in and I've sneezed 5 or 6 times already today. I sneeze a lot at work. It is odd.

Gosh, so I don't even remember last weekend really... oh okay. Friday Kendra and I went to Bugatti's for happy hour, then worked on my garden, then saw the Break Up with Kristie. Good times! Saturday I ran an attempted 8 miles... but only got 5 done. I had no lung capacity... NOT so good for that half-marathon training. Booo. Then I went to the Starlight parade with Eric, Trevor, and Jenny - super de duper fun! I have never been before, it was a great time! I want to be in the One More Time Around Again Marching Band - so me, right? Haha. I feel like Laura would join it with me if she were here. ;-) Sunday was work on the house day, Geoff and Eric painted the baseball room. In exchange I did Geoff's laundry for him - I know, you're thinking WOAH, doing the laundry? But I would MUCH rather do laundry than paint, and guys laundry is shockingly easier than girls. I was a fan.

Monday was Remicade day - thank goodness for that drug. It is such a miracle for me, it takes a few days to kick in but my stomach has felt way better the last few days. Tuesday I met Geoff and Kyle at the pool... I did 2700 yards. They'd already played an hour and a half of raquetball, so Geoff swam a whole 100 yards... wow. But he is definitely faster than me. GRRRRR to that man and his athletic abilities! We also went to Outback and ran into Tim there, so when he was done with dinner he came over and has a nice chat with us, it was good to catch up!

Wednesday started family time... Geoff's grandmother, Aunt Lulu, Uncle Mike, and cousin Taylor (13) came in. So we had pizzas and a lot of time looking through pictures! Geoff's grandma talked to me for a long time and spent time showing me pictures and stuff, it was great! Thursday was more family... Geoff's stepsister Rebecca (15) joined the mix, so we had taco night (omg these people are crazy about their tacos, they hyped them for like a WEEK... it was awesome!) and worked on the pictures some more. I LOVED hanging out with the family! Friday was Geoff's brother's graduation party -- I met ALL the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, church friends, etc. It was great. There were a lot of people to meet, but I got to spend a decent amount of time talking to a lot of people and it was just fun! I had to leave early for my half marathon which was sad, but such is life.

The half on Saturday was GREAT!!! It was a really fun race! You can see results and pictures at www.helvetiahalf.com... it went by so quickly and was just a great race. I can't wait for next year's... and in all honesty, it made me want to consider training for the Portland Marathon. Because I have Hood To Coast though (wait did I even tell you I was running that? Yeah, I am), I need to train for speed for the next couple of months. Then I will run Pints to Pasta (a 10K) in September and Run Like Hell (another half) in October. Then I will have another year to focus on the endurance for the Portland Marathon in 2007. I hate running. It sucks. But fun races like that make it worth it! The other day during my lunchtime run (Wednesday) I kept saying "I run because I can. I run because I thought I couldn't. I run because it's hard. I run because of the challenge."... I spent like a good 10 minutes of my run saying stuff like that, to motivate me because it was sucking. I am thinking about making a list for you guys of reasons why I run... but I think it will be LAME and EMBARASSING. Some of the things I was coming up with were definitely stupid. But we'll see.

Saturday I went to Geoff's brother's graduation, and then more family time. We had a grand old time, we played Bocce Ball with like 10 people, it was super fun! We kind of had to make up our own rules for teams and stuff! Very good times. And Taylor, Rebecca, and I played this little Superman game where we jumped onto couch cushions... YEAH pretending to be a teenager!! Hehe. Then Geoff and I took Taylor, Rebecca, his brother and girlfriend to Over the Hedge. It's even funnier the second time around! Haha. What a great night. Oh, and Taylor and Rebecca are going to be around the whole summer -- YEAH!!!!!

Physically and emotionally draining to be around that many people for that long though! I love people but I also need to refuel and recharge. So I stayed in bed and relaxed until about 2 Sunday, then ran a couple of errands, then went to Trevor's house for a BBQ. It was good to chill with Trevor, Jenny, Eric, and Kyle, and Geoff joined us much later after work. Really fun day. After that Geoff and I kind of chatted a little about our exhaustion from the week... it was hard on both of us, he had to deal with his whole family and do a lot of work for the party in addition to his physically demanding "real" job. And I had to deal with meeting a lot of people plus the physical and emotional demands of my race, so we were both just overwhelmed! It was hard because I couldn't totally be there for him and he couldn't totally be there for me, so we were both a little frustrated... but we had a great talk and it was good. I have to work hard in this relationship, because relationships DON'T come easy to me (I'm way too selfish)... but it is worth it for him. It's really the first relationship I've ever WANTED to work for. He doesn't have to work that hard... but he told me last night - you work on the small stuff, I'll work on the big stuff. So it'll be okay. :-) He is wonderful to me and for me. I love every bit of how hard I have to work and I know God is changing me and that I am learning. So yeah, just an awesome weekend overall!!! Ready for another great week... gonna beat Geoffrey in a swim race tonight (yeah right). ;-) Can't wait for the pool tonight though!