Happens Every Day, Isabel Gillies

I love to read. Usually the books that grab my attention are ones I can partially relate to. This definitely is not always the case, just sometimes. I must admit, I also am one of those crazy people who judge books by their cover--bad habit I'm trying to get over but those bright, colorful covers with daisy's just get me every time! A few months back I came across an enormous book sale and stocked up on about 35 books. Happens Every Day, by Isabel Gillies happens to be one of them. It's taken me while to even make a dent in that crazy pile, partly because a majority of the books or authors I'm not familiar with, the topics aren't necessarily my cup o' tea, and some just boring my right from the beginning. This, my friends, was not one of those books.

I don't want to give away too much because I would highly suggest this book to females. It's a memoir Isabel Gillies wrote about her marriage and how it crumbled to pieces while she tried her best to hold it together. She wanted nothing more than to be married to her husband while he completely gave up.

I love the way she writes, she writes like she's having a conversation with you. She tells you intimate parts of her relationship that you would only tell a good friend. I want to be friends with her. Some parts are sad and tears were streaming down my face numerous times but if you can push through the raw emotions you'll be happy you did. She is an inspiring lady who reminds herself and her readers we all deserve true, happy, simple love.

I've had enough of this

10.5. That is what we ran last weekend. The night before I think 'why am I doing this?'. The morning of I think, 'why am I doing this?'. And, yes, during the run I think, 'WHY WHY WHY!?!?!'. I hate to be a poor sport, but I really think this may be my last run for a bit. It always seems like a freaking fantastic idea to sign up for these events, but when it comes down to it, training sucks!

10.5 miles is from our house in Magnolia, pass Seattle Pacific University, across the Fremont Bridge, pass Gasworks park, across the University Bridge, down Eastlake, on to the South Lake Union Park, along Nickerson and home again. Just to rub it in how "fun" this run was (cause I know you're already sooo jealous) it was pouring down rain. Oh no, not just a little sprinkle here and there. DRENCHING, COLD, HEAVY rain! I kept having to wipe my eyes because my eyelashes were getting so heavy with raindrops. It was like having eyelid weights! :) It was almost embarrassing when cars passed us cause I'm sure they thought we were so ridiculous. Heck, I would have thought we were ridiculous! When we passed the few and far between fellow runners we gave each other little smiles like, "at least someone understands, I'm not completely foolish".

Saturday is the big day. The day of the mostly hilly trail run. We'll see. If I'm in complete pain afterwards, the German beer should help cure the muscle aches. It is Oktoberfest after all...

I was missing for a week, now I'm found

It's been a while since I even clicked on my blog, or anyone elses for that matter. Things have been a bit hectic around our house, seasons changing, autumn cleaning, dealing with a minor injury, but I think we're back on track now.

S and I play on a coed kickball team just for the heck of it, it's a riot and pretty fun! During our first game (about 6 weeks ago) I got knocked over HARD. So hard the wind was knocked out of me, I had a ginormous bruise on my leg and was left a bit scratched up and achey. Well, I thought I had healed completely but I've had this persistent lower back pain, like so bad I can't even bend over. I feel like I'm 100 years old but in reality, I'm only 26... I think my back injury is from my fall, I don't know what else it could be! This is extremely unfortunate because I'm running the Leavenworth half marathon in just under 3 weeks and now I can barely get out of bed, let alone run 13.1 miles! So, I'm still not quite sure how to handle this...I went for a 3 miler yesterday and felt alright, but that was only 3 miles. I need to be able to add 10 onto that. I'm going to train the best I can, but I'm not setting any super high goals this time around. I'm so bummed this happened! Errrr, next time we're training I think I'll abstain from kickball.

David Gray and Ray LaMontagne Encore

Unbelievable.

David Gray/ Ray LaMontagne/ Red Rocks/ Irresistable/ Passion/ Beauty

I fear I won't be able to find the words for what I'm about to write about. Maybe the words don't exist.

S and I traveled to Denver, CO for one special reason, the concert of my dreams. David Gray and Ray LaMontagne. I LOVE David Gray, he is my absolute favorite. His voice, his lyrics, the words you can feel deep inside your body and then they emerge through the goosebumps on your skin. He is simply amazing. I was not as big of a fan of Ray, but only because I wasn't as familiar. That has changed.

We went to Red Rocks and Ray played first. His voice is almost....haunting. He sounds better live than recorded, something I didn't even know was possible. He has passion unlike I've seen, slapping his knee, eyes closed, feeling every beat of the music. My eyes welled up during "Hold You In My Arms", I turned to S and said, "I've only had a glass of wine, not a bottle!". Ray has a bit of stage fright so he stood off to the side of the stage, and wouldn't allow pictures to be taken in the first 15 rows. The only thing he said to the audience was, "Thanks you very much". In my opinion, it's just one more thing to love about him. He's definitely not in it for the fame.

David was on next, I've seen him before so I kind of knew how the show would go, flawless and effortless. His voice, his energy, his whole stage presence is so fun to watch. He does an amazing job of interacting with the crowd, getting people up and singing, the crowd was clapping and waving their hands in a sea more than once during the set. One of David's songs lasted about 20 minutes, no joke. It actually got kind of weird and I was convinced he must have been drunk...or high...or just really into it? After that song he apologized to the crowd for "tripping out", and led into his next song by saying, "Here's something real Welsh to go with all this Jurassic $h!+".

If you have time, please watch the video above, it's truly unbelievable. They performed this song together for the encore and it was quite possibly the best performance I have ever seen. It makes me want to scream, "ALL I WANT IS YOU!"

Ahhhh, love... If you care about my opinion at all, I think Ray stole the show. I'm going to try to find tickets to the Washington show, but it's sold out. Craig's List might be my new best friend in the following couple weeks. We'll see.

Happy to be home. Happier I got to experience something so magnificent.

xx

Boom Boom Pow

Did you hear that sonic boom yesterday??? I thought we were having an earthquake! Good thing I didn't duck and cover under my desk because that would have been REALLY embarrassing! Silly Sea Planes! OBOOMA!

http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/archives/218467.asp

There is a ginormous grasshopper staring at me through the window at work...my first thought when I saw it was, "I can't believe people eat those things". Sick. Some people really do eat them, right?

No More Excuses

I did it. I finally signed up for a gym membership. Running outside was really bothering my legs and joints, and unlike most people, I really enjoy running on a treadmill! I put on my headphones and let my mind go blank- I actually really love it.

So, peeps, if anyone goes to LA Fitness is Ballard, let's work out together! I HATE being sold to and it took me 2 hours to get the guy to the price that I was OK with. It would have been nice to go lower, but whatever. He threw in a gym bag, and some not-so-cool LA Fitness gear so I felt like I won in some weird way.

Tonight is Friend Night! Unlike other Girls Only Nights, I plan to refrain from drinking 2 bottles of wine and being so hungover the next day I feel like a dragon breathing alcohol out of my nostrils. Stay tuned, Lovers.