Rockin' and Rollin'

As I wrote before, I was fortunate enough to win an entry into the Seattle’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon from Onlineshoes.com. I had entered the drawing on a whim and quickly forgot about it. Never in my life did I plan on participating in a race that involved running 13.1 miles. I grew up competitively swimming and running was always a painful sweaty chore that I avoided during the dryland portion of practice. The longest I had ever run was maybe three miles but winning an entry into this race set off a chain reaction of activity in my life!

My training started slow with jog/walk intervals around Greenlake Park which is a 3-mile loop. I could barely run a mile without huffing and puffing. Not being a runner, my only goal was to finish the race and to do it without feeling like I wanted to die! Signing up with Team in Training for the Nation's Triathlon and going to team practices really got me through the 'why am I doing this' phase. Having a team behind me has been the key to seeing the finish line. 

The night before the race I had everything ready to go for the early morning wake up; clothes, after race items in my gear check bag (flip-flops were the best thing in the world after the race), GU and a pre-made breakfast smoothie waiting in the fridge. I was so full of nervous excitement, and maybe a little fearful of missing my alarm, that I was unable to sleep. But 4 am finally arrived and I was up and out the door. 

As I walked to the bus stop I passed some people sitting on the porch still partying from the night before! Once I got downtown, there were shuttles waiting to take us to the start of the race in Tukwila. The start area had food, drinks and what seemed like and endless line of port-o-potties. I was impressed with the organization of everything and amazed at how many different types of people would be racing. The variety of people really put my nerves at ease allowing me to relax before the race; if they could do it, I certainly could!

During the run there was plenty going on to keep your mind off the fact that you would be running for over two hours. Dodging through a crowd of almost 30,000 kept me on my toes and was very interesting people watching. There were live bands, cheerleaders and patrons endlessly rooting us on. And among all the madness of the crowd, Lake Washington brought amazing beauty and a sense of calm as we ran along the shore. Of course, I was taking pictures and tweeting while I ran and had a great music play list that kept me going despite the pain.

I surprised myself by running most of the race. I had planned on walking quite a bit but once I hit mile six,  running was actually easier than walking. I only walked maybe a mile and a half throughout the race and ran the rest! The last mile I got a killer cramp in my foot but it was the LAST MILE, I had to keep running! Crossing the finish line was such an amazing feeling. I felt so proud of myself for finishing a race I never thought I would participate in. It is amazing what our bodies are capable of when we take care of them. 

This experience gave me racing fever and I’m now getting ready for my first triathlon in September! The only portion of the triathlon I was worried about was the run and now I am very confident about it. I am pretty sure I will be running a few more half marathons or maybe even a full in the future. 

Craft/Sewing Hiatus - or - How I Ended up Training for a Triathlon

The beginning of this year started with a promise. I did not want a resolution to quit a bad habit or some elaborate plan for world domination; because really, that's just failure waiting to happen. In January, I was inspired during a workshop with Molly of Stratejoy to do something different. She challenged us to create a theme for the year. During this workshop, we dove into a guided meditation exercise hoping to surface with our personal theme. As I came out of the meditation my theme echoed in my head with alarming clarity: Whole-Heartedly Participate.

So, great. I had my theme. Now my whole world was supposed to change just by adopting it? Sure, I wrote it on my mirror and looked at it every day like I was told to. I think I may have made a semi-conscious effort to repeat it in my head for a week or two but it wasn't until I was climbing out of the pool after this morning's workout that it hit me. I actually HAVE adopted my theme. It is almost May and since establishing my theme of 'Whole-Heartedly Participate' in January, I have done just that.

First, I returned to school with the goal of attending Bastyr University to study Naturopathic Medicine. This goal is THE reason I moved to Seattle. I was drawn to this school when I still lived in Utah, long before I jumped ship to San Diego and then made the trek to the PNW! The prerequisites for Bastyr are not anything out of the ordinary. I just need my AS degree and then I can finish my undergrad studies at Bastyr. It is the general education that stops me dead in my tracks. The very thought of uninteresting classes full of brain numbing busy work make me think of thousands of other ways I'd like to spend my time. If I'm bored I tend to will abandon the task.

So what got me to FINALLY hop to it? At some point in February I realized I had been talking about attending Bastyr 'someday soon' for the past six years. SIX years. That is almost 3/4 of the time it takes to finish ALL the schooling to become a Naturopathic Physician. So I decided to participate, whole-heartedly. I enrolled at the University of Phoenix because they offer less painful 9 week accelerated courses; it is all online so I don't have to juggle class/work schedules and I can apply my massage therapy schooling to help me along. The less time I spend in boring classes the better. I just finished my first 9 week term and begin my second today! Bastyr still seems far away but I am one step (or 9 weeks) closer to being there.

Last year, my gung-ho attempt at solo triathlon training left me with a back injury that knocked me out with six months of excruciating pain. Not fun. I remained weary of sweating in general until March rolled around and my back was hurting for the complete opposite reason, lack of movement. Inspired by friends involvement, I signed up for Sassy Fit's boot camp style workouts. Turns out the group workouts were just what I needed to stay motivated. It is amazing how much more fun working out is when you are with a group! After two months my endurance and strength have sky rocketed, I have more energy and best of all, my back pain has greatly diminished.

A few weeks ago I happened to enter a drawing for a free entry to the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. I am actually not sure why I entered. I hate running, especially long distances. But thought, if I win I'll give it a go; I've been working out, I can do this too. I then promptly forgot about it. Lo and behold, a week later I got an email. I won! The entry fee is usually a measly $500, who in their right mind pays FIVE-HUNDRED dollars to RUN 26 MILES?! Certainly not me but it was a free entry, all I had to do was participate. I said yes and I am now officially entered to do the 1/2 marathon, only 13 miles. I am not sure I can commit to the full 26, at least not yet.

The marathon entry got me thinking about the event I had abandoned last year. The only lengthy event I have ever actually wanted to participate in. I know I wine about a full marathon but it is ALL running, how boring. A triathlon is broken into three events and one of them is swimming! What is the point spending your entire youth in a pool if you never do anything with it? To me, a tri seemed much more doable than a full marathon.

I continued tossing the idea of a triathlon around in my head and daydreaming about crossing the finish line. I casually looked up different races and training workouts online and considered how I would fit it into my already busy schedule. Then one day Jaclyn showed up while I was doing chair massage. She had just signed up for her first triathlon and was training with  the Leukemia Lymphoma Society TEAM. Training with a team? My experience with Sassy Fit told me this method was the best option for me. I immediately joined the bandwagon without a second thought and just had my first team practice Saturday. We are training for The Nation's Triathlon in Washington DC on September 12th! Not only am I set to participate in an Olympic distance triathlon, but I am fundraising $3900 to fight cancer in order to be in the race! And I thought the $500 marathon entry was a lot.

With school, work, friends and training I continue to refine my time-management skills with hope that I can squeeze some crafty/sewing time somewhere in the mix. But, here I am, not even six months into my year and my world is looking a million times different (and more exciting) than it did in January. All because I decided to Whole-Heartedly Participate. Stay tuned, there are still eight theme following months left to enjoy!

Wardrobe Refashion

One of my goals for the next couple months is to clean out my closet in a different way. We all have items that we hang on to even though it's been months or years since we've looked at them let alone worn them. In an effort to save money yet satisfy my need to update my style I am attempting to give old pieces new life.

I have wanted a short ruffle skirt for a while now but was stuck with this longer raggedy hippie skirt. Blah! No worries, I saw potential I just had to help it along!

I pulled apart all the bottom layers but kept the waistband and top two layers intact to form the base of the skirt. Then, I gathered each detached layer into ruffles and sewed them around the skirt base. Pretty simple but it is now a completely different style! Easy transformation, fun skirt.

Back in Action!

I guess moving really brought this little blog to a halt! So sad that it has been neglected for so long. It's not that I haven't been crafty, I just haven't documented anything! So I'm thinking of just a quick rundown of some of my favorite projects that have been ignored.

First up I LOVE giving wedding gifts! I like finding something on the registry and personalizing it for the couple. In this case (summer wedding) I took this beverage dispenser and filled it with

colorful reusable ice cubes, ice trays, straws, drink umbrellas and napkins.

Then! I took their wedding invitation and scanned it into Photoshop and turned it into drink recipe cards using the same fonts that were on the invitation. They were printed on glossy card stock and then mounted on the green. I couldn't be happier with how they turned out!

I have two friends that are my GO-TO people when I need new music. They always have the newest artists and obscure finds. Lucky for me their birthday's are close together so I killed two birds here. Same stencil (Photoshop, naturally), different application. For the music man: a t-shirt.

And the lady listener got a turquoise handmade tote bag:

I made this dress for my 'Devil With a Blue Dress' Halloween costume. I did not use a pattern and utilized my dress form for draping. I love it and can't wait to wear it in the summer too!

Next up, my lil' sister's Christmas Present. A plain-jane zip up hoodie now has the approval of a picky 16 year old. I just cut up some old pajama pants and a little contrast fabric in leaf shapes, pinned and sewed!

Stockings, to me, are the best part of Christmas! My roommates did not get to go home for the holidays so I made them each a stocking and filled them with goodies.

Well, there are my favorite projects from 2009! Thanks for tolerating the absurdly long post! Here is to posting more regularly in 2010. Happy New Year!

My Favorite Furniture Finally Gets Some Love

Some day when I finally settle down and stop being nomadic, I will invest in furniture to keep for the long haul. For now, I only have a couple pieces I will never part with. Everything else comes and goes as I move and no longer have use/room for them. 

I bought this Hi-Fi Cabinet right when I first moved out of my parents house. It was $35 and everything worked perfectly, even the record player. In the past 5 years it has moved a lot, earned some wheels to replace the legs, lost a door and been through a flooded basement fiasco. It's not looking so pretty anymore but it still works perfectly and sounds great! 

And, as with all my projects, it has been on my to-do list for quite some time. Well, I am currently in the middle of moving (hey, it's been two years!) to a new house. I couldn't stand to see it through another relocation without a face lift. So I guess moving was my motivation to finally sand it down and refinish it. the wood underneath was beautiful which made me indecisive about what color to use.

Finally, I settled on an espresso finish. The only problem was that the weaving on the front did not like the stain at all, which made me think I made the wrong stain choice and I should have stuck with the blonde finish, Ahhh! 

But then I took a deep breath and gave it a little turquoise attitude. Problem solved. The gold metal trim got a coat of silver and I'm happy. Now for that missing door over the receiver... the last one split so I'll have to go to Home Depot and get a new one cut. I wish I had more power tools!

I'm sure once I move I will have a whole slew of new projects to keep me busy, yay!

Remnants = Love

Lately my trips to the fabric store have been of the just browsing sort. But, the one thing I buy EVERY time I go is remnant fabric. I usually find at least half a yard or more of great fabrics that are marked down... and then marked down again! Right up my alley. 

I fell. in. love. when I saw this sunshine yellow cotton. As soon as I picked it up I knew what the finished product would look like. 

My sunshine skirt was designed and patterned entirely with the use of my homemade dress form (or as I call her, my stunt double) and it was SOOO much fun!

It was my first time making a garment without the use of a seam ripper, each piece was sewn just as it should be. I don't think I swore even once during this project, weird.

This skirt may actually be the only project that turned out exactly as I imagined. Can I be quick to fall in love with my stunt double or is it or is it a fluke? I guess the next clothing project will be the answer. As for now, I'm smitten.

An Effort Toward Organization

OK. This is embarrassing. How many of you have that room in your house that just ends up being storage? Storage for stuff you forgot you have or just don't have a proper place for. And for some reason it is never stored neatly, it just gets thrown in the pile of other stuff that doesn't have a home and it all mingles in a giant heap that you ignore for as long as you can stand. That would be my "craft/sewing room". It is no wonder I never get any projects done when it is such a disaster!

How do you get a smoke stain off w/o painting?

A dirty little secret about me, I LOVE being organized, yet (here is the dirty part) I rarely take the effort to keep the chaos at bay. So every so often I have to take a whole day (or more) to reorganize, and clean up after my laziness. Ugh. I do love the satisfaction after the mess is tackled which makes me wonder, if I kept it clean would I always feel that satisfaction? 

So I guess this post is to let the world know that I am now going to do my best to keep the peace with my clutter. Now hold me to it ;) The addition of a craft/work table really got me motivated!

Here is part of my progress (and my craft table!):

I've had this shelf forever (target) and added those blind support things to hold dowels for ribbon, I need more ribbon. 

Here is the crafty part of the day. This dry/erase/magnet board was just lying around with no purpose. So I decided to revamp it. 

I took the frame off, stitched some fabric together and put the frame back over it. Now I have a cute magnet board to post my inspirations and notes on!

A work in progress but at least there is progress.