Changing the world......one thong at a time

I've decided to spread the word (via my highly acclaimed and widely read blog) about the necessity and gloriousness of the thong. Yes, I'm talking about underwear that discreetly lies in the crack.

Hands down, the best thong underwear is made by Hanky Panky. Don't worry, it isn't x-rated. The amazing feature of these thongs is they are one size fits all. They literally fit someone who is a size 2 all the way to a size 14. Here is a 5 pack o' thongs. Aren't they lovely?

They aren't scratchy, they don't bind, they rarely "ride up", they are absolutely perfect! Are you sold yet?  No?  Ok, I'll keep going then.

I've worn thongs for years. I had resigned myself to what I will call the "sensible thong" from Patagonia.

The Patagonia thong is breathable, durable and machine washable. I guess you could also call these a "hardy thong". The damn things never wear out.

Then I discovered the HP thong a couple of years ago at the Nordstrom anniversary sale. The person that was helping me insisted that I buy them. I was immediately skeptical, so I bought 4 pair.

I brought them home and tried them on.  They took a little bit of work to get into them. I won't go into too much details but I will say that I had to sort of "shimmy" to get in them. But, once they were on I immediately gave them a high kick and I was good to go!

I wore my new HP's every day that week. By Thursday I realized I had been wearing them backwards. Yes, I was wearing a thong backwards and didn't even know it for 4 days. (I'm sorry if I gave you a horrifying visual) My only explanation for this is that Patagonia underwear has the label or tag in the front. I had been wearing these thongs for 3+ years. So, when I transition to HP thongs, I instinctively put the "tag in the front". You'd have to own a pair to realize how easy of a mistake this is. Trust me. The best part of this whole experience was telling this story to my co-worker. Her response was, "even my 5 year old son knows that the tag goes in the back!" Well, sure. I do too now.

I love these HP thongs so much that I have now begun buying them as a birthday present for my friends. It is hard to believe that a thong could change your life - but it really can. I bought them for my friend Camille and she immediately went out and purchased a 5-pack. She now has them for everyday of the week. Now THAT is sensible. I bought them for my friend Stefanie - I'm pretty sure she loves them. Or at least that is what she tells me.

Go ahead ladies. Purchase one now. It will change you life - even if you wear them backwards.

Biking!

It is Saturday morning and I've had my coffee and breakfast. There is a window of time that I have between now and my next task. Food needs to digest, certain bodily functions need to happen, need to get my clothes ready, gear ready, figure out my route, etc. etc. It is what I do most Saturdays and Sundays - ride my bike. Looking at some of my blog posts, I realize that I haven't really devoted too much to biking.

It is the "off" season, I guess. I spend a lot of hours on my trainer looking like this:

 Note - I don't pull my shorts up that high and I don't read while I'm on the trainer. I watch sappy movies and re-runs of "What Not to Wear". It is my key to staying on the trainer for 2.5 hours at a time.

It is the time of year that you put in a lot of base miles and build your base for the upcoming season. My cycling/race season is quite long. It begins in February and goes until December. Mountain bike races seem to start first, then road races begin and my year ends with cyclocross. I'm going to take breaks along the way and I'm vowing not to race every weekend.

I really enjoy mountain biking. Brian and I have had a lot of fun adventures riding our mountain bikes. Sometimes the ride can be brutal and miserable. Other times it can be so fun that I squeal out loud and laugh hysterically while I'm riding. When I think about it, my favorite rides are the ones that combine both of these feelings. Pain and fun!

I'm looking forward to mountain biking in new places this year. I'd like to ride the Devil's Gulch in Wenatchee and the Plains of Abraham near St. Helens.

I'm also looking forward to going back to Bend OR to ride. Bend is the most magnificent place that I've been to ride my mountain bike. We've been there several times and I can't wait to go back.

It was such a major accomplishment for me to get over this damn log. 

Bend's trails are smooth and sandy. A stark contrast to the trails I ride in the Capitol Forest (rocks, mud, roots, attacking birds, bees). Bend has trails designed specifically for mountain biking. OMG they are glorious. Definitely worth three high kicks and a deep lunge.

The landscape is sort of "scrubby" and dry. We normally go in May or September/October. This photo was taken in October. Look how smooth the trails are!

There is even "art" on the trail!

I've got to get back to Bend to go biking. I suppose it is covered in snow right now and I won't get a chance to visit until May. I think I will retire there someday.

I sometimes question why I am a slave to the trainer on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights and spend both days of the weekend riding in the rain. I've not figured out why I do what I do.  I'm hoping to figure that out this season. Last season was pretty rough for me. I didn't have a lot of fun and I was tired and emotional quite a bit. I don't like to be emotional. I like "happy Ann" and not "anxiety-filled Ann".

But, for now, it is back to base miles so that I can make it through this long season of biking and racing.

One of my favorite photos.....

Today I was looking through some pictures that I had on my computer. I always land on the same picture and stare at it for several minutes. I study it, soak it up, smile, and then study it some more. It is my favorite picture of Mom. In fact, I think it is one of the only digital pictures I have of my Mom. I really need to scan some other ones on my computer.

I just love it. I can't put into words how much I love this photo. This photo sums up the essence of my Mom. Go ahead, click on the picture. Soak it up.

1. Always a cat on her lap. She was cold a lot and a cat always helps you stay warm.
2. Coffee and iced tea. Both contain lots of caffeine which maybe explains why she had so much energy. 
3. The stacker in the right corner. It had magazine clippings for decorating, flowers, and ideas for everything. Sometimes I was the recipient of these ideas. About every month I would receive a random box with clippings, articles and other things I'll call treasures. I sure do miss those packages.
4. Lists. She had a ton of lists for every possible thought or use. 
5. I love this room of our house. When I go home, I love to be in it and feel her presence. 

My Mom was always the one taking the pictures. Like many people, she hated the camera. I'm thankful my brother was able to snap this photo of her. Otherwise she would be ducking her head and you would never get to see her surprised expression.

She died when I was 29 and that was really hard. It was hard on our whole family. It is difficult to lose the rock of your family.

I don't exactly know why I decided to blog about this picture or my Mom tonight. I guess it was just one of those days that I caught myself studying this picture.

Whitefish Montana!

Tis the season for lots of skiing. Ever since we met our friends Jeff and Cassandra Rankin at Big Mountain, we knew we'd be back season after season. We normally ski the first week in January. It is the perfect time - just after Xmas, all the crowds are gone. Our little secret. Just us, the snow and Big Mountain. Or so we thought....

I was playing with the panoramic setting on my camera. It isn't perfect but you get the idea.

We were informed by a local that the word is out about the first week in January. It now has become too crowded. When we really should be visiting is the middle 2 weeks in December and the middle 2 weeks in January. Perhaps he was trying to trick us, we will never know. I still say the first week in January is a perfect time to ski Big Mountain. 

The first thing we did when we got to the ski slope was visit Jesus. Yes, I said visit Jesus. You see, they have a statue of JC on the mountain. Each year I take my picture with him. I now (thanks to my coworker Tina) refer to him as "Touchdown Jesus". Apparently this is a common phrase. I wished him a happy belated birthday from my friend Kerry and then gave him a high-five.

I'm "high-fiving" JC. I love this picture.

We had a lot of fun skiing the first day. Well, I had fun but I was really really cold. I'm not as hardy as I used to be, perhaps it is because I'm on the downward slope to 40. I'll be turning 36 this year and I just can't handle the cold like I used to. Brian, on the other hand, is very hardy and loves the snow, and the cold, and all the skiing.

I'm smiling for the camera, but really I'm thinking, "smile dammit! this is for the blog! It doesn't matter that you are freezing!"

Pure skiing bliss.

We ended the first day with a huge plate of nachos. Actually, it was a half order of nachos. They are ginormous!

Here is the afterglow picture, for the nachos at least. These nachos deserve a high-kick and a lunge for sure. Although I was too tired to do either of these maneuvers. 

Now, if you look closely, I mean REALLY inspect the 2nd nacho picture, you will see that there are tomatoes on them. Prepare yourselves: I will now start a tirade about tomatoes. 

• Tomatoes are disgusting. They are my one and only most hated food. Disgusting.
• Tomatoes are a "non-food". Case in point: when you read about a particular dish you'd like to order at a restaurant, tomatoes often times do not appear on the menu. But, they show up on your burger. What does this mean? Non-food. Don't exist. Worthless. Disgusting.
• Tomatoes leave their poison everywhere. Even if you can stomach the thought of picking them off your burger, their leaking juices taint the bun, the lettuce, the burger. You know you can taste it. It doesn't go away. Disgusting
• I digress, in disgust. 

Tomatoes were not on the description for these nachos. But, I had my tomato scope out and realized this non-food would show up if I didn't specifically exclude them from my order. So, as any normal tomato hater would do, I ordered nachos without tomatoes. 

As we dug deep into nacho goodness we discovered tomatoes on the bottom half of the nachos. This brings up an alarming thought about nachos. What if every plate of restaurant nachos is just someone else's half-eaten plate with a new helping of chips, cheese and nacho goodness on top! Horrifying thought I know.

I made it through the tomato/nacho debacle. I decided not to say anything to the staff at the restaurant because they were so incredibly nice. In fact, everyone at Whitefish was as nice as can be.

Here is another picture of the bar we were in.

All in all we had a great time. We will be back in Whitefish MT before you know it!

Skiing for Christmas!

Brian and I decided to take Big Tom and Spencer up to White Pass to do some skiing on Xmas. We packed up BT and left on Friday afternoon. Spencer seemed really excited about the trip. In fact, he sang to us while we were on our way. I hope you enjoy his singing voice, we certainly do.

It is amazing to me how much food I pack for one overnight trip. I pack for most every contingency because I usually forget something essential. One time, I planned on chicken salad sandwiches for lunch. Forgot the chicken. Oh, and I guess I forgot to pack Christmas dinner. I'll get to that later.

Our pantry for an overnight trip.

We made reservations at the very swanky Packwood RV. If you've never stayed there, you really should because it is quite glamorous. We woke up Xmas morning to some interesting neighbors.

Friendly Elk

I've seen the Elk herds from afar while driving to White Pass, but I've never seen them this close! We drove right by them and they didn't even flinch.

This was our first time skiing in Big Tom with Spencer hanging out in the van. I was very nervous and thought that he'd be anxious or miss us terribly. Well, as you can see from the picture below, he was quite comfortable and didn't seem to care what we were doing.

Skiing was great. We met up with some friends (Maggie and Patti) and really enjoyed the newly expanded runs.

It always amazes me to see Mt. Rainier so close. It is too bad that the were so many clouds out....

Mt. Rainier, covered partially in clouds.

We skied in the morning, headed back to BT for lunch. Spencer was happy to see us and took this opportunity to take a nap in the sunshine with Brian. So cute!

We finished skiing the rest of the day and then drove home Christmas night.

I guess I figured we'd find somewhere to eat on our way home. Or, maybe I figured that we had something exciting in our refrigerator for dinner. Ok, fine. I forgot to plan Christmas dinner because I was too busy stocking up our pantry for every possible contingency while camping! So, Christmas dinner for me turned out to be Pigs-In-A-Blanket and cinnamon rolls for dessert. For Brian, well, it is 8PM and he still hasn't found anything.

Our boy Jester

Brian and I have had Dalmatians ever since we've been married (13 years). We got our first dog Riley as a puppy. I'd never had a dog before and I was really in for a surprise! Riley was a very energetic, lovable, hell on wheels type of puppy. He liked to chew the corners of walls, window sills and spindles on staircases. We quickly realized that the key to taming Riley and correcting his behavior was to get another dog - Spencer. Note - this was actually our first mistake.

Spencer was offered for $50 in the paper. He was really cute and energetic as well. We thought he'd be a perfect match for Riley and then we'd never have to walk them again. They could just play together, right? Wrong. But, things got easier and we liked the chaos of having two dogs.

Then our beloved Riley died. We were distraught, devastated, sad beyond belief. I stayed home from work for 2 days crying it hurt so bad. Just having one dog (Spencer) felt so empty and miserable. So, about one month later we started looking for a replacement for Riley. Note - this was our second mistake.

We worked with an organization called Spots of Seattle. The women there said she had two dalmatians available, a female puppy and a male 9 month old, or so. I really wanted a female puppy but I told her to bring along the male just for fun.

When we saw the puppy, she was really cute and little and we liked her. But, the woman really wanted to show us the male she had brought as well. She brought Jester out of the car and I knew immediately I wanted him. He had the exactly same mannerisms that Riley did. It was freakish! So, Spencer got a new brother named Jester and life was back to normal. Right.

How could you not love this face.

We were assured a couple of things about Jester:

1. He was about 50 pounds, as tall as Spencer and done growing. 
2. He could stay in the house alone all day.
3. He got along fine with cats.

Turns out Jester kept growing. He grew to about 80 lbs and about 3 inches taller than Spencer. He also could not stay in the house by himself. The first day we tried letting him stay in the house ended in a trip to the vet where they induced vomiting. Apparently eating a pan of brownies is not good for dogs. And, not that I had a cat at the time, but Jester wanted to kill all cats. But, as time went by, he turned out great. He and Spencer got along pretty well too!

Jester and Spencer enjoying a ray of sunshine.

Jester had such a fun personality. He was a clown and always doing something to make us laugh at him. He would actually laugh and always greet us with a smile when we came home. He was just so much fun. We really cherished every moment we had with him. 

Jester in the throws of a good "flop" session. 

Jester started having health problems around 5 years old. He began to have seizures. The medication they put him seemed to control them just fine. Then, he developed pancreatitis. He had to put on special food and could no longer have dog treats. Instead we gave him plenty of other things like steak, chicken, vegetables. He managed quite well.

Then around 7 years of age we found out he had congestive heart failure. It came on with an episode of coughing that would not go away. We took him to the vet and were shocked to learn that he only would have a couple of months left.  I didn't quite believe it. He seemed normal to us. Yes, he had slowed down a bit but we didn't think it would be as serious as it was. We got the news in July and really had no idea how much time we'd have left with him. 

Jester, Spencer and I waiting for our friend Karen in the Capitol marathon. 

The vet put him on 5 different medications and we tried to manage as best we could. Over the next couple of months, we cherished the moments we had with him. I was still a little bit in denial. He really didn't seem to bad to me. He went for daily walks, ate, played, slept like normal. He was just a little bit more tired. 

His coughing came back one weekend that we were planning to go out of town for a bike race. Foolishly I felt like we could still take him to the kennel. Brian ultimately decided to stay back with Jester while I went to the race. I very much regret this decision. Jester died the following Monday with Brian at his side. He had a seizure and it was too much for his poor heart to handle. 

That was September and now it is December. We learned from mistakes #1 and 2 and have not gotten another dog. We've gotten close and even filled out some rescue applications. It was eerily quiet in the house after Jester died. We hated it. 

My absolute favorite picture of Jester. Pure happiness. 

 We've come to terms with his absence and have begun to enjoy our one dog household. Spencer has a much more subtle personality and loves to cuddle. We've realized that he was sort of over-shadowed by Jester's big personality. Spencer has calmed down and is a great little companion. 


We miss our Jester. My favorite nickname for him was Boppy Face. He had such a cute face. 

Pizza!

We love to make pizza. Especially on our pizza stone that was made for our outdoor grill. I bought it at Williams-Sonoma and I've never regretted the purchase.

This pizza looks good, but not as good as the one we made!

I've recently been trying out new recipes from the Pioneer Women website. We made her recipe for Caramelized Onion & Prosciutto Pizza. It was fantastic! We don't make our own dough. I stopped by Old School Pizzeria and picked a medium raw dough from them instead of making it from scratch. For as little as $2 I can skip the hassle of making the pizza crust. It's worth it.

The caramelized onions gave it a sweet flavor and the proscuitto really complimented it well! It made me think about my co-worker Karen. She hates combining sweet and salty flavors together. In her words, "it is a violation." I have to respect that. I know this is only my second blog post but I really hate tomatoes.