Ready for Labor Day

I'm pretty excited about Labor Day weekend this year. Once again, we're hanging out with Matt & Asayo and the dogs to go camping....and this time we're going up to Nanaimo, B.C. on Vancouver Island! Not only is it a camping trip but we're also going to go scuba diving off the coast where it's supposedly home to the second largest artificial reef in the world (guess they like blowing up ships off the coast and letting them sink). According to Jacques Costeau, as far as temperate diving goes, the shores of Nanaimo, B.C. is only second best to the Red Sea. Sounds awesome...I can't wait!

Goats in Seattle!

What a clever idea --- starting today, the city of Seattle hired Rent-a-Ruminant to help clear the vegetation, weeds and brush in this patch of land between the dog park at the base of Pike & Boren and I-5. Literally, goats in Capitol Hill! Instead of getting big gas guzzling weed whackers or mowers, they got goats! They will eat anything, go where machines can't go and are environmentally sound. I think it's fabulous...but I have to say, seeing 60 goats with the rush hour traffic of I-5 in the background is hilarious. Here are a few photos that I've found:


Courtesy of miss_villanelle

Courtesy of evil_robot_6

Courtesy of cleverclevergirl

Aaron on Everyday Edisons

As some of you may know, my little brother, Aaron, has made it on television again (previously was on "American Inventor")---this time on a PBS show, sponsored by the U.S. Patent Office, called "Everyday Edisons" which showcases the invention process and what it takes to go from idea to actual product on store shelves. He was one of 12 chosen to be featured in Season 2 (and note that all products from Season 1 contestants are now actual, retail products!). Again, he went with his anemone alarm clock which he designed sometime in college. Here are a few episodes that he's been on. I think there may be 1 more episode coming up this next week, which I'll post once that airs:

Show where he's introduced


"Ideation Creation" -- the beginning stage of the show's team working on his design


"Engineers Gone Wild" -- the design starts getting finalized



It's always exciting to see my little brother on TV---hope that the story ends with his clock being available on store shelves this Christmas!

Sunset Supper at the Market

We just got back from a fabulous event with Jessica & John that I can't believe I've never discovered until this year. I won an auction item last year to attend the Pike Place Market 13th Annual Sunset Supper at the Market. The event features food and beverages from 50+ restaurants, wineries, and breweries in the Seattle area---and all the proceeds go to the Market Foundation. Over 1,400 people showed up to the market and it was like a bacchanalia of delicious food. Here's a sampling of some of the food that was there:

Restaurant	Food Sampling
Canlis	All Natural Prime New York Steak with Soy-Madeira Glazed Mushrooms & Heirloom Tomato Vinaigrette
Sorrento Hotel	Anderson Ranch Lamb Chops, Northwest Bing Cherry Glaze
Kaspar's	Northwest Red Snapper Tacos with Corn Salsa
Cafe Campagne	Petit Burger D'Agneau--Grilled Lamb Burger with balsamic onions, roasted red peppers & aioli
Fish Club by Todd English	Lamb Tounge, Chickpea & Catelevetrano Olive Pimenton Smoked Heirloom Tomato Relish
Tango	Paella Mixta
Volterra	Bellini Gelle
Le Pichet	Chilled Summer Melon Soup garnished with melon rind pickle, smoked prawn & chive creme fraiche
10 Mercer	Warm Fig & Prosciutto Crostini
Chez Shea	Kobe Style Beef Salad with Arugula, Parmesan & Balsamic Vinaigrette
BOKA Kitchen	Peach Cobbler w/ginger creme fraiche & candied ginger
Andaluca	Gazpacho with Dungeness Crab
Purple Cafe	Champagne Watermelon Gazpacho with Feta & Mint
Serafina	Chilled Cauliflower & Leek Soup w/Salsa Verde
Palisade	Ceviche with Watermelon Salad
Troiani	Seared Ahi Tuna with Artichoke Heart Salad

I could go on and on. All food and beverages (there was Hoodsport Wine, Redhook Brewery beer, SKYY Vodka cocktails, all Starbucks beverages, etc.) were included in the ticket price. By the end of the night, we were so full we could barely stand. Here are a few iPhone pics that I took:

We definitely want to go next year -- talk about a wonderful sampling of some of the best restaurants in Seattle! It's totally worth it and you'll eat til your heart's content.

Another year goes by....

I turned 31 this year and had a pretty laid back celebration, inviting a few friends over for a birthday bbq on the rooftop. Thank goodness for the sun coming out last minute! Here are photos that I took. On my actual birthday, on Monday, Matt surprised me by taking me to dinner at Tilth, which was delicous. Tilth is located in Wallingford and specializes in using local, organic foods. I've only had brunch there and the dinner was equally as delicious. We happened to be there on an evening where there was a set menu featuring Alm Farms from Emerson, WA. The menu was:

Fennel Soup
fennel, breakfast radish, purslane

Purple Potato Salad
bacon, frisee, sous-vide duck egg

Skagit River Ranch Pasture Raised Goat
farro, sweet corn, goat milk

P, B & J
blackberry smoothie, almond butter, pain perdu

City Chase Recap

City Chase was a ton of fun! Matt and I spent 5 1/2 hours walking + running around the city, taking buses, and participating in all sorts of various challenges. About 130 teams of two participated and we finished #47 out of all of them....not bad considering that only 71 teams even finished in the allotted 6 hour timeframe. We will definitely do this next year and I'm actually hoping the challenges end up being harder.

The day started at Westlake Center and teams had to complete a scavenger hunt in the area before receiving our clue sheet. Some of the "items" we had to return with:

- Race shirts worn backwards
- Lipstick kiss on the cheek
- The number of bookstores featured in Seattle Weekly newspaper's "Guide to Good" this week
- Find out the number of Palm Centro smartphones sold in this last year
etc etc etc...

The event was sponsored by Seattle Works, Palm Centro smartphones and Advent X gym. The clue sheet contained 14 challenges and teams had to complete 10 of them in the allotted 6 hour timeframe and cross the finish line at Jillian's. We could only use our own feet or public transportation to get around. Teams could complete any 10 of the 14 challenges with one exception: there were 2 challenges where it was a requirement to complete at least one of them. The clues to the challenge locations themselves weren't too difficult, particularly if you were familiar with Seattle; otherwise, some of the clues would've required doing a bit of research. For example, one clue required knowing the location of the Seattle Works office (which I've been to) or knowing where "there is a library where all the books can only be read by touch" (I happened to know that the Braille Library is located across from Whole Foods). Anyhoo, without further ado, this is what we did in chronological order:

1. We were given an energy efficient lightbulb and told to exchange it for a regular lightbulb in a home or office, and then bring the old lightbulb to the Seattle Works office, which is in Queen Anne in front of Key Arena. So we walked over to 3rd Ave and grabbed a bus to Queen Anne, walked into an antique store and exchanged a lightbulb for a lamp. We then went to the office, dropped off the lightbulb as well as e-mail confirmation of raising at least $40 prior to the race (score!) -- 2 points achieved.
2. Our next challenge was at the Braille Library. We walked over to Denny Way and waited for the #8 bus to take us up the street. While waiting, a woman who'd been waiting at the bus stop for awhile came up to me distraught because a car had just come by and some guy whipped out, what looked like, a gun and shot a jujube at her. Yes--candy. What a strange start to our day. We made our way to the library and our challenge was a word puzzle. You know those puzzles you see where you see, say, a 20x30 grid of letters and there are words hidden with the letters that you have to find and circle? That's what we had to do --but it was all in braille! Fortunately, they supplied us with a braille dictionary but it was still tricky finding 10 words! (and one of them was upside down!) 1 point achieved.
3. We then walked over to REI and were handed two Palm Centro smartpones. Communicating via text message only, one team member had to go into REI to answer questions that were sent via SMS by the other team member standing outside, such as "what time is Backcamping 101?". Relatively easy challenge considering we were at REI. While we were there, I inflated 2 orange balloons to carry with us all day--if we crossed the finish line with them, then we'd be entered into some drawing. 1 point achieved.
4. Our next top was the Gage Academy of Art up on Capitol Hill on 10th Ave East. We decided to wait for the #8 bus to take us up to Broadway. From there, we hoofed it all the way over to Gage which is at the cross streets of 10th Ave East and Galer. We walked up to the 3rd floor of the academy into an art studio and....nude models! Our challenge was to sit for 15 minutes and sketch a nude model...of a dude Ha! Wish we kept our sketches. 1 point achieved.
5. Next up was Volunteer Park which was fortunately across the street and just up the hill it. This is where the Advent X trainer team was and the location of one of the more physically challenging challenges. An obstacle course was set up that involved us running back and forth, doing situp, pushups, burpees, etc. 1 point achieved.
6. All remaining challenges were back in the Pike Place market area so we went back to 10th Ave E and grabbed the #49 bus back downtown. We made our way over to the Campagne restaurant in the market and, again, were give a Palm Centro smartphone. This challenge involved taking pictures and videos of various things, including: you and 2 strangers doing the can can, 3 people drinking coffee, you and a stranger sharing some sort of food, you kissing a fish, etc etc. Pretty fun and required involving total strangers. 1 point achieved.
7. Next, we sauntered over to the City Fish Market where we were told to roll a die. Apparently, the number you rolled detemine what you had to eat: a "1" meant a swedish fish (darn!), and "2-6" meant any combination of salted herring or a whole, raw smelt. We fortunately got the herring (the smelt would've been tough) and we had to eat "2 shots of salted herring". I say "shots" because it was required to drink the liquid that came with it too. Ew! I shouldn't say "we" because this was a challenge that Matt made me do entirely on my own (no way was he going to eat fish). [sigh] The herring wasn't bad but it was insanely salty. I really felt it for the 15 minutes afterwards as I felt so nauseous. 1 point achieved.
8. After the Market, our next stop was Myrtle Edwards Beach Park. We didn't know of a bus over there so we just walked over....slowly since I was still feeling nauseous from the herring. Upon arriving at the beach, all we saw was a paint bucket and 2 helmets with bowls attached to the top. The challenge was to walk into the puget sound, fill the bowl attached to our helmets with water and fill the paint bucket with water until it was filled to the rim. Brrrr! Sounds crazy eh? Yeah, it was but we did it! 1 point achieved.

From there, we had to cross the finish line at Jillian's--and again, there wasn't a good bus to go there so we walked from Broad & Alaskan way to where Broad St. meets Westlake Ave and crossed the finish line at Jillian's! Woo hoo!

As I was running around the whole day, I didn't get a chance to take many photos, but here are a few that I did take.

Here are some more photos, courtesy of City Chase, that document the day of others doing the same challenges.

City Chase Bring it on!

Man, summer just flies by! Yes, I still need to post photos from Iceland (which I'm still working on so I can tell a nice story), but I have posted a few:

Album on Facebook -- this is a high level overview in 60 pictures of the entire trip (you don't need to be part of Facebook to access this link)

Landscapes - pretty photos

Food we ate -- from whale to puffin....

People & Experiences -- this is the album I'm still working on...but here, you can mainly see the photos of us and our traveling companions, Debbie & Saevar!

But anyhooo....what I'm really excited about is CITY CHASE USA! I just learned about this Amazing Race-type of event that is essentially an "urban race" around Seattle, involving challenges that are mental, physical, who-knows-what. The event itself is actually in 20 countries and many cities in the U.S. Matt and I are racing as "Team Moohaha" and so excited. The race is tomorrow and we have no idea what's in store for us. Here's a cool video to give you a sense of what this race is about.



We've prepared thus far with having camelbaks, prepping our cell phones and finding an "at home" contact to look things up for us on the computer (thanks Derrick!). Grr---it may rain tomorrow....Wish us luck!