Pining for the Fjords

This past week, I received another delightful Stitch Fix box in the mail, and since it’s been awhile since I shared my results on the blog, I figured I’d do so now.  Since I know the regular pose of me trying on clothes in front of my bedroom door must get old, I figured I’d spice it up this time.  Instead of just presenting the clothes, I’d do some acting to add in how the clothes made me feel.  Get ready for a master class, people. Clothy goodness! First up was the Kut From the Kloth Kate Distressed Boyfriend Jean ($78).  Stitch Fix introduced me to Kut From the Kloth jeans in my very first fix, through the pair of black skinnies I still love to wear today.  All on my own, I sought out another pair of skinnies from this brand in green corduroy, and they served me well through the four harsh days of winter we endured here in Phoenix.*  Thus, I was excited to see another pair of jeans from the brand appearing in my delivery this month.  I ...

Last weekend, Chris and I ran races on back to back days.  On Saturday, we ran the 5 th annual Kiss Me, I’m Irish Run,* and on Sunday, we ran the City of Peoria Cactus Dash.  We’re beasts like that. The Irish Run is staged at Westgate, which is the large entertainment area housing the stadiums/arenas where the Cardinals and Coyotes play.  It’s only about 15 minutes away from our house, and it has all sorts of fun restaurant offerings, including a Yard House.**  The event can get a bit crowded, and even though it has age group and other awards, it ends up being more of a “fun run” than an actual race.  Anytime you take a large group of people (900 in our run and 2500 overall) who don’t normally race, ask them to show up in costumes,*** and then point them at a balloon arch, it’s highly likely that pandemonium will ensue.  This year’s race was no exception; although we were close to the start of the pack, we still ended up behind several strolling seni...

This year’s shirt design. Pretty cool, right? This past Sunday, I participated in the annual City of Peoria Half Marathon.  This is my second year running the race, and it’s super convenient for us, since it’s held on the pedestrian path that runs along the wash right outside our neighborhood.  The start and finish of the race is at Rio Vista Park, which is only 4.5 miles (one way) from our house on the path, so although we could technically bike to the start, we normally end up driving, as we’re tired enough afterward to make riding home a painful endeavor. From the start, the course heads south on the New River Trail through a set of smaller rolling hills, crossing through the wash around the 2 mile mark, and then looping back to the park on the other side of the wash.  This is also the loop that the City of Peoria uses for most of its 4 mile runs, so racers doing the 4 mile distance peeled off at this point and headed across the bridge to the park, then...

But only a few bites to eat! We’ve officially had the gardens for one full year now, so I figured it was time for another update!* Occurring since the last update , in late October/early November, we took out the watermelon vines on the right side of the big planter, swapping them out for seeds of winter crops, specifically, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts. From left, on the right side of the trellis: The area for the brussel sprouts, the happy, happy broccoli plants, and the cauliflower. Also, it’s not a garden picture if the dog isn’t in there somewhere. As you can see, the broccoli has taken off like gangbusters.  We haven’t harvested yet, but I figure we need to do so pretty soon, as the floret that popped up first is starting to widen out.  From past broccoli plants (in the other house), I’ve found that once the floret widens out, it flowers, moving past the stage where it’s edible.**  Hooray, healthy stuff! ...

This past Tuesday night, our tv roster became a bit quieter (and rather a lot sadder) as we bid adieu to both Parks and Recreation and Agent Carter .  Parks has been one of my favorite shows since it premiered a few years back, and although Agent Carter’s run was brief, I really enjoyed watching all eight episodes, and I hope it comes back for subsequent seasons.  In addition to closing out their seasons/series on the same night, I wanted to write about these shows together as both center around the strong female characters I love to watch. Word, sister. Although I’m not old and decrepit yet,** I’ve seen huge changes in the way female characters have been presented in tv shows over my lifetime, and these two shows are exemplars of an ideal we can continue to strive for.  I remember growing up, watching great shows like Roseanne and Murphy Brown , where strong female characters were the cause of controversy (how dare Roseanne act gross, like a man?  Ho...

Ah, mid-February in Arizona.  The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, it’s around 80 degrees, and everyone’s thoughts turn to love…of craft beer, that is!  Whee! For one week (although it’s been expanding a few days longer each year, it seems), Arizona celebrates local craft beer and brewing with a slew* of events, including festivals, tappings of rare and unique brews, beer pairing dinners, and other random gatherings geared at the craft beer enthusiast.  This is our third year celebrating AZ Beer Week, and I thought I’d share what we’ve been up to over the past 10 days or so. Thursday, February 12 th We started Beer Week 2015 at our closest craft brewery (and one of the newest in AZ, as well), Dubina Brewing.  We’ve been to Dubina a handful of times since they opened about six months ago,** and we’ve consistently been impressed with their friendly staff, solid food and beverage offerings, and innovative spirit that extends to all parts of the o...

I know that most of my readers to this blog aren’t really coming here for insightful commentary on politics or religion or world events.*  However, I’ve been spending most of the past week and a half in and out of doctor’s offices, mainly for a chest cold that’s been causing me to cough up all sorts of exciting things, but also to my GI doc to start crafting a plan to better address issues that have occurred “down south” during recent races.**  This immersion into an area where I (very thankfully) don’t normally have to venture has gotten me thinking about the whole measles/vaccination thing. In reading through the information on the subject, which mainly consists of what friends are posting to Facebook, I think I understand why folks are fired up.  I get that some people prefer not to vaccinate their kids due to the link that they feel exists between vaccines and autism, and I get that in some cases, resistance to vaccinations comes from a place of faith or religion...