Goodness Audra...more photos!

I took this picture over the summer. I named it the obvious, "Two Trees". Recently, we updated our house with some art, mostly just pictures that I took. Our house is full of personal art, we have pictures of the Snake River, sunrise at Mt. Whitney, paintings my grandma did, sheep farm in Rupert, and even some Shoshone falls pics. I would rather have something with some meaning than a random from IKEA or Bed Bath and Beyond (no offense).

Two Trees is one of my favorites. Hope you enjoy.

P.S. We have family in town this weekend and it might snow. Not ready for jingle bells and holly. Peace out!

Just messing around

I took this picture over the summer while we were in Rupert...any guesses what it is? I was mesmerized by these. Its an onion!


Trying to be creative with some photo editing

one of our first pictures together. I just love it!

The Come Back Kid

Let’s see, last time I blogged was in August. Now it is the middle of November. We are knee deep in our fall track season, and the last thing you remember about me posting was the Rock Star effort that Wilson gave climbing up his first mountain. And I also recall vowing to post more often and more frequently. Note to self: Don’t promise things you can give…makes you a liar.

My apologies to my readers. Which is probably two of you…Thanks DAD!

I digress…last year at this time, I was training for a marathon. Logging miles and planning my trip back to Arizona for Thanksgiving. This year I’m taking a different approach, I’m making a comeback. A comeback you say? For what? The Heptathlon of course! My job allows me to have the freedom and resources to pursue a dream of going to USA Nationals in both the indoor and outdoor championships. I have a great training partner, a really fast hurdler-former UW athlete-gone post collegiate pro with me, we help each other fight the battle of lifting, soreness, intervals, hurdles, abs, etc.

The Plan:
INDOOR Season
Enter in a few indoor meets in Seattle in hopes of scoring enough points in the Pentathlon to qualify for USA Combined Event Championships hosted in Indianapolis (March).

OUTDOOR Season
Basically the same thing, but trying to stay healthy, It seems like it takes this motor a lot longer to get rollin. I’m the car that you have you warm up the morning just to make sure she will make it down the hill. Outdoor USA’s are in Eugene this year. Hayward Field…if you haven’t been to a track meet there, I would strongly advise doing so. It is an amazing venue and the crowd it draws for track meets is like nothing I have ever experienced before. All of that will and should take place in June. I will do the heptathlon there…plan on going to some California meets to qualify for that. Makes my spring pretty fun.

SO… with that being said, I’m really excited about the next 8 months. I feel like this is my shot. I don’t like living the “What if” life, and I know that I have had the “what if” about the heptathlon.

My days are usually filled up with training athletes, training myself, and being dedicated to the special things our track and field team will be able to do this season. I love my job and the opportunities I have being a part of this program.

Other News:
I could talk track and about my job all day but why don’t I dab into some more personal stuff. As I mentioned the state that I was in last year, marathon training and then going home for Thanksgiving, well this year we are staying home for the holidays. About five years ago, I made a decision to stay at school and not fly home to AZ for Thanksgiving. We made a turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes…all the pilgrim favorites. And after saying some sort of grace, I started crying. It was the first time away from home on a “Big” holiday and I promised myself that I would never, NOT be home for Thanksgiving again. Well I was just a baby then and now I’ve realized that I’m an adult now and I have to start my own traditions plus flights for four days to Arizona from Seattle…OUTRAGEOUS! Therefore, I’m cooking for some Canadians and a few other fellow friends who agree with my system to staying home due to price of flights.

Next Wednesday Raul’s mom and dad and family friends are coming to visit. It is so funny when you have people come stay with you. There are so many little things that need to be done. Wash couch covers, clean walls, dust the corner of the closet where no one sees or ever visits besides the dust bunnies. Clean sheets…hell buy new sheets, new towels, organize the towel closet, organize kitchen pantry, organize this, and organize that. Throw away, give away…exhausting but it seems like we do it every time we have visitors. First of all, how do we accrue so much crap and second of all….who is feeding that dust bunny?

Don’t let this give you the wrong idea. I’m really looking forward to the visit from the Rupert Clan. I am just not looking forward to my date with the house.

One last thing:
I have been doing a lot of blog reading, but not blog writing (which I have missed) and I have discovered two blogs that I just love. One is called the inspired room and the other is the Pioneer Woman. Thanks Margo and Jennifer. The lady from the inspired room lives in Seattle and the PW is really fun to read. Anyway, those have become my inspiration to stick with the bloggy blog blog.

Hope ya’ll are enjoying your fall. Thanks for reading!

Mt. Pilchuck

I've been wanting to go on a Family Hike/Camping trip after we climbed Mt. Whitney but since then we've had moves, track meets, holidays and more. It has been over two years since we were in Cali climbing that mountain with our good friends. So I was delighted to be able to finally take an adventure with Raul, Sug and Wilson. It only took us three and a half hours round trip but it was perfect. Wilson was solid the whole way...even better than me.

After our glorious summit, we camped in a local campground about 8 miles from the trail head. We slept four to a two person tent and even though we didn't freeze I think I only slept about three hours. It was a little cramped. Anyway, glad we went, had fun and I really want to do a back packing trip up by Wonderland Trail.

Cheers to Goals for September 1st 2010

Hey Ya'll....Alright, I had a talk with my lovely boyfriend about having a five year plan, this does not mean a five year plan of frying wings at the local Hooters. I liked the idea and I feel it is going to be a project of mine.

With the five year plan, I get nervous because I feel like the possibilities are endless and it is only up to me on what I want to do and who I want to join me on the journey. Even though I'm not quite ready to start my five year plan workbook, I thought a new fall resolution was a good start. Technically it gives you enough time to plan some great goals and then it is immediate enough to satisfy the Freudian "Id" in us.

With that mouth full of gibberish being said, I advise ya'll to set some goals for yourself. They could be anything from weight loss to finances. Make your deadline right before the holidays(or Jan 1). Here is the cool thing...then you can do another set of resolution goals in January. It is a pretty sweet deal if I don't say so myself.

I think too many times we talk about what we will do tomorrow...and as the great Garth Brooks says, "Tomorrow Never Comes." So make it a September goal. I plan to get somethings in order. I want to make some extra money on the side, which might entail my own business. I want to establish a better group of girl friends up in Seattle.

So...write it out, put it up somewhere where you will see it everyday. Good luck and hope you are enjoying your summer.

Next up(Steeling from Katie): Mt. Pilchuck Hike-First family Summit!...hopefully with pictures.

I just can't stop and a little bit of ass fat

Since we have been in Idaho, we have had Mexican food almost every single day. Don't get me wrong, I love it and I just can't stop! We (me and my accomplice, Raul) went on a Mexican food spree of eating it for lunch, dinner, and snack time. As much as I love the Latin love of frejoles and queso, I don't love the ass fat that it comes with.

"What do you mean by Ass fat, Audra?"

Ass Fat (noun): It is the soft little bit of fluff that rides along the cheek that connects to the top of the leg. It doesn't see much sunlight but for some reason the Mexican food heads straight there before anywhere else.

This is how I think the conversation goes every time we have an encounter.

Mexican Food,"Hola Audra, we would love to live in your body, we know you would welcome us, because we taste so good, salsa-guacamole and all."(In the sexy Antonio Banderas voice)

Audra:"Of course, MF, I welcome you with open arms plus you could just live in my body and live vicariously through my ass fat."

MF: "What a great idea and opportunity for us to be together forever."

Audra: "Absolutely, just as long as you keep tasting so good."

Can't you see my dilemma of not being able to stop the MF from turning into ass fat! Yeah, and lunges and squats are not getting rid of it either, bc MF just keeps coming back around trying to get back to its favorite form in my body, ass fat.

I just can't stop the ass fat!

Magic 7's for all man kind

If you check out my comments from my last post, the Asian porn stars made another appearance. I'm actually now more accepting of the Asian porn comments. Either one, they don't care and have no idea what I'm posting which in return means that they continue to market their outrageous porn product, or two (which makes me laugh)have answered with a "Thanks Audra for the post, however we feel that your blog is spectacular and really enjoy reading it. You are our favorite American blog girl. Since we love your blog so much we wanted to make it apart of our website and hope that you enjoy our comments about Asian porn."

So anyway, I do not want to go to a private blog so I hope that it doesn't offend anyone. And if it does, just think of them as really nice people who love to read my blog.

On to another...wonderful subject.

I feel like my "cheap ass" shopping skill are very tactical, frugal yet purposeful. My bargain shopping has opened up an addiction that I have no control over. As we all know there is lots of money in Seattle. It is a very trendy city and Nordstrom couture crowds the streets with handbags, jeans, jewelry and lifestyle. And once these pieces of clothing or accessories are no longer needed for that individual they are tossed out and donated to a magical place. "Audra, that is called Goodwill or Salvation Army, I donate all the time, just yesterday I cleaned out my closet and sent some old sweatshirts and valentine's day socks to St. Vincent De'Paul."

Ladies and maybe the one gentleman that reads this blog, I am talking about a place where in each rack, hangs designer everything. Banana Republic, J Crew, Patagonia, The North Face. But the most exciting thing that awaits in this what the locals call "GoodWill on the Ave" are designer jeans. Everything from Joe's, Paper Denim, Citizens of Humanity, to the Magic 7's for all man kind. These jeans wrap around your body like a glove. They hold everything in place, like the ass fat, and make your butt look "Fergalicous". Here is the very best part about my affair with this place. My wallet is not ever compromised. Last week, where I found my new favorite pair (by the way, no holes, no tears, zipper and belt loops attached) of 7's with some fancy dancy rhinestones, I only paid $24. And it gets even better. Every time I go....and I mean every time, I find unlimited amounts of my magical jeans that are practically new. Well at least new to me.

I told Raul yesterday that I am so satisfied with being a clothing hunter at thrift stores and Goodwill's. I do such a great job with finding fantastic stuff. And to top it all off...I look at it as my contribution to being Green!

Hope you all have a fantastic day.

Audra....out.