Jumping Right Back In

Gooligan and I have been home for a week now. And it's weird. But also not that weird. Which is, in itself, odd.

It took us about five days to get over the jetlag. But that didn't stop us from socializing! The first night after we got back, we met up with my friend, Amanda, who I have been friends with since elementary school.

We went downtown to see a cabaret show. Each of the people preforming did a great job designing and preforming their acts, especially considering that it was a debut show for many of them. I guess that's part of being an artist of any kind: the willingness to commit yourself to your work, and to get out there and preform no matter the outcome.

After the show, we went to the Hurricane Café, where we ordered nachos, hash-browns, and a milkshake.

Probably the single worst thing I've eaten since coming back to the States (nutrion-wise, anyway). But it was so delicious!

Then on Sunday, Gooligan and I went pumpkin-patching with her sister and her sister's delightfully silly kid. We went fairly last-minute, I suppose, on the Sunday before Halloween. Most of the pumpkins in the field looked more like vomit than pumpkins, actually. But after a substantial amount of walking around and peering at pumpkin carcasses we finally found two suitable pumpkins.

After we got home, Gooligan and I carved the pumpkins. I carved the Goblin King for her (my drawing skills, which are abhorrent, are still better than my carving skills, let me tell you). Gooligan complained that her pumpkin was also atrocious, but when I saw it my mouth fell open.

 
Incredible, right?! 

Anyway, the real reason we pumpkin-patch and carve pumpkins is for the seeds! Gooligan loves fresh pumpkin seeds. She roasts them in the oven and slathers all sorts of delicious seasonings on them and then we eat them for days.

Speaking of eating things, having a lot of free times on your hands and a well-stocked kitchen, leads to a lot of baking. And it's not even November yet. The holidays are going to hit hard.

Luckily, I've started running again. Sometime in the last couple of runs I passed the 200 mile mark without even realizing it! Take that, high school P.E. coaches!

So far I've made cinnamon pancakes with chocolate chips in them, pumpkin chocolate brownies, and chocolate-dipped peanut butter cookies. Oh, and lentil soup.

Lentil soup is one of my favorite things to make because it's a) delicious, b) you can make it with just about anything, c) it's super cheap, and d) it's really easily adjustable if you have people eating with you who can't eat certain things. Last night I made it with vegetable stock, onions, carrots, and green lentils. If you make some homemade bread to go with it, it's one of the best quick, easy, and affordable meals ever.

Well, I'd better hurry up and finish my homework. Packet four is due in a couple of days and Gooligan and I are going back up to Bellingham to visit some friends tonight. 

It feels really weird to me that I am almost done with grad school. After this packet, I just have one more, which is really just compiling everything into my final creative thesis. Then I have to give my reading and lecture at residency at the end of December and I'll be done with schooling for the first time since I was in preschool. It's so surreal to think about. But I feel like I have made some substantial breakthroughs as a writer and a critical thinker, and I'm eager to be able to apply the time I've spent on school toward other writerly pursuits soon. I'm sure I'll blog about my feelings concerning graduation and my reading/lecture more later!

Saturday + {Summertime}

After we got back from the Color Run, life has been non-stop. Well, I guess, technically, life has been non-stop ever since Moving Day. We spent a week sharing a twin mattress on the floor of our otherwise furniture-less apartment, intermixing our last few days of work with cleaning marathons, utilities-disconnecting, errands, last-minute socializing, and copious amounts of television watching in the wee hours of the evening when we were too exhausted to look at another cleaning rag.

Then, as soon as our apartment inspection was over, we got in the car and drove straight down to Portland to meet up with Maddie & co. for the Color Run.

Which was a blast. We were coughing up color for days, but it was well worth it. I've never had so much fun running. There were so many people and everyone was in such high spirits; even though we only ran for about two-thirds of the actual race, it was amazing. I felt strong, energetic, and felt like I pushed myself.

As you might have noticed, amidst all this chaos, I stopped updating this blog for awhile. So what have I been doing?

Well, during our week in-between getting back from Portland and flying to Scotland on Monday, I've been finishing our itinerary and enjoying the last few days of Seattle summer. When we get back, it'll almost be the end of October, and fall will definitely be here with winter on its way.

On Thursday, I went for a bike ride to a park about five miles away. It was an absolutely gorgeous day; the park is beautiful, too, and I had it almost all to myself. Well, myself, a sack lunch, and Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Then yesterday, Alex, Gooligan, and I went hiking in St Edwards State Park. 

Moving away from Bellingham is tough, in part, because of all the stunning nature that is so readily available to you. We used to be able to literally walk out our door, cross the street, and disappear into the woods. Or hop in the car, drive five minutes, and arrive at a gorgeous lake or park.

But the last few days has been an important reminder that we still live in a beautiful place: we just need to invest a little time into (re)discovering it. Whether it's hopping on our bikes to go for a ride, or going for a walk or a run in the winding streets nearby, or driving somewhere for a slightly bigger adventure, we're still blessed to live in an incredibly nature-rich area.

Wednesday + {The Color Run}

Call us crazy--we probably are--but in-between moving and our trip to Europe, Gooligan and I are competing in a 5k. In Portland, Oregon. We signed up months ago, sometime during Winter quarter, and we got our old roommate, her girlfriend, and her parents on board with us, so we qualified to sign up as a team.

I'm so excited about this 5k. It's our first official race and it's a color run, too, something that has been on my bucket list for quite a while. The official website calls it "the Happiest 5k on the Planet" and describes it as "a unique paint race that celebrates healthiness, happiness, individuality, and giving back to the community."

The track we're running on September 7.

Part of the reason that I am so excited for this race is because it has been a while since Gooligan and I have seen our old roommate. After she graduated, she moved about 250 miles away. Not impossibly far, but not a convenient distance, either, when you factor in arranging three work schedules, gas money, etc. to make the trip. But plans have been made and we're ready!

The other reason I'm so thrilled to be participating in a color run is because it will mark a year since I started running. I don't remember the exact date of my first run; I'm notorious for not making a big deal of beginnings of new habits, in case they don't stick. But I started running in September 2012. 

At first, I used a couch to 10k program on my iPod. That was a lot of help, since it helped transition me from zero running experience to regular running experience in short bursts of walking and running. Since I didn't have a smartphone at the time, though, I had no clue how fast I was running or how far. Not a huge deal, but I was really interested in improving my run and striving for consistency, so I signed up for a gym membership for the quarter.

It was at the gym that I made two discoveries: one, I hate running inside. And two, treadmills are super unreliable.

Luckily, about a month later, a classmate told Gooligan about this Nike+ chip you could put in your shoe and it would sync with your iPod. It tracked mileage and pace and synced with the Nike+ website to show you a handful of other stats.

I ran 62 miles using that app. Then I got a smartphone in November and started using MapMyRun because it used GPS to track where I ran in addition to how far, how fast, how many calories burned, etc. The coolest part of the app, however, is that you can set it to chime in periodically about how you're doing. Right now I have it set on two-minute increments. So every two minutes, it lets me know my average pace in those two minutes and how far I've run collectively. A great tool if you're trying to work on running at a steady pace.

Using MapMyRun, I've run 124 miles. Which puts me at 186 miles total. Not bad for a kid who was adamantly opposed to running the weekly mile in high school P.E.!

I won't lie, though. I fell off the bandwagon once. When it started to get cold, running became harder. Then I went to my third residency at VCFA and my schedule got disrupted. My third semester of grad school was my worst. I was in an emotional sinkhole. But then, in March, one of our friends casually messaged me on Facebook about how she was starting a running group and wanted to know if I would be part of it. I said yes. Gooligan got on board, too.

Even though the group disintegrated pretty quickly into just Gooligan and me, we've stuck to it. Sometimes we don't run as often or as far or as fast as we'd like but we're still running. 

Yesterday, Gooligan and I laced up our shoes and forced ourselves outside. Just for a mile. But we did it. We've made a commitment to each other and ourselves: at least a mile every day this week no matter what.

It doesn't matter how well we do in our 5k. Any time will technically be our best time, since this is our first official race. But it's not about time or distance. It's about having fun and seeing our old roommate again and getting absolutely covered in paint!