Jack at the Gorge

So Friday saw me and Tara at the Gorge seeing Jack Johnson.  The concert was lots of fun.  Jack was amazing and sang lots of his new stuff while mixing in some classics.  We got to sit by drunken idiots who stood up and danced the whole time, sang off key, and managed to run off most of the people sitting around us by the end of the concert.  But Tara and I endured by laughing at them a lot.  We navigated our way through the concert gear line to buy cute sweatshirts, and managed not to kill anyone during the worst exodus of Gorge parking ever! 1 and a half hours later we finally got out.  Good times had by all.  The pics weren't that great from our view from the upper right side, but I did manage to take a pretty bad video.

I'm alive

Don't worry faithful readers, I didn't drown last weekend.  I've just been enjoying my last few days of freedom before school starts.  Tomorrow my friend Tara and I head to the Gorge for a Jack Johnson concert.  In the meantime, here are some pics and details on the Sprint Triathlon.

I finished in 2:04-ish, which was pretty exciting considering my last week of training consisted of cooking and eating out at Camp Cross, and no running training to speak of.  I was pretty proud that I finished my swim in 14 minutes.  No Olympic record for me, but it was pretty good!  Here are some  pics from the day.  That's my friend Diane finishing the race together.  The girls in the group pics with me are my friends Melissa, Lisa, Diane, Erica, and Dawn (and their kids)! Looks like we're all going to give it a go again next year!

Wunderwoman Tri

So in the way of doing things that are both challenging and good for me this year, I agreed to join my friends Melissa, Dawn, Erica, Lisa and Diane in participating in the Wunderwoman Triathlon next Sunday. It is a sprint tri for women. We will complete a 1/4 mile swim, a 10 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile jog on Sunday. Everyone say some prayers that I make it through without drowning or falling off my bike :)

Just kidding! I have actually completed the swim and bike parts two times now with the ladies as we get ready for the big day. I'm pretty excited to do this and complete my second sprint tri (I did one 2 years ago). I promise to post some pictures when we are done!

Cara Lee

This is a wee bit late...I'll chalk it up to the craziness of mansion sitting.

My little sister Cara celebrated her birthday and the Olympics opening ceremonies on Friday, August 8th. It's still a bit strange having her on the other side of the country instead of celebrating with us here in Spokane. She of course, celebrated in her favorite way, at the casinos with my dad, step-mom and brother...so I guess it's pretty much the same as if she were home.

Cara I hope this year is an amazing one for you. You finally have a job that doesn't cause you road-rage (as badly) on a daily basis, and seems to be made for you. You are surrounded by family that loves you. And you are missed by everyone you left back here. We miss your quick wit and ready laugh over here. I miss my partner in crime. May this year be filled with happiness, and joy for you. Enjoy the new golf clubs! Love and miss you!

Laurie Ann

The August birthday's have started in my family, and the first to come is my beautiful mother's.

Mom, thank you for everything you have done for me. You are an amazing, courageous woman (even when you get a little anxiety). I never had a moment in my life where I felt unloved by you. I can't believe how much you gave us (and went without), so that me, Cara, Katie, and Tony wouldn't feel like we were without. I would not be the woman I am today without you to set the bar high.

Some of the things I love about you:
1. You never go anywhere without your knitting or a book, two things I have come to love as well.
2. You love learning, and went back for your college degree after helping us get through school.
3. The way you adore Riveria, Liam, Alex, and Michael makes me want kids all the more.
4. You have your own blog...you're so technologically savvy for an old lady!
5. You aren't afraid to laugh at yourself when you fall down.
6. You make the best homemade mac & cheese...still my favorite meal.
7. You use crazy Sundstrom lingo like scrapnoodle, and tough nut scrumpy.
8. You worked with dad to make things work for us after the divorce.
9. Megan is right, you are really funny. Thanks for passing that on to your kids.
10. I never have to wonder how much you love me.

Happy birthday mom. I love you to pieces!

The Bike

My beautiful mother Laurie is soon to turn another year younger and shocked me with the announcement that she wanted a bike to celebrate the big occasion. My mom has had a small fear of riding bikes as long as I've known her, but she was ready to embrace a new challenge so that she could ride with the Parlange boys. So for the last week I've been doing some research on what would be best (she wanted something sort of retro, like BZ's the White Rose), and today I forced L-dine out of the house to pick her new ride. There were just too many designs and colors to choose from for me to pick out The One.

We headed down to Wheel Sports today where I knew they had the Electra bikes, or as mom calls them the-old-lady bikes, and Lavs picked out a beautiful Electra Townie bike. It's perfect for the fearful rider-- the seat is a little lower so you can put both feet on the ground without getting off the seat to stop, and the handle bars come back towards you. It's a little bit like sitting on a recombant bike but your knees don't feel like they're in the wrong position. We grabbed a cute little wicker basket for the bike and were out the door.

Mom and I put it through it's paces with a practice ride to show it off to Steve and then around our little neighborhood, and the woman was a pro on that thing. Not a single flash of fear in her eyes! Happy birthday mom. I hope you and the boys have fun riding on Whidbey Island this week!

Mansion-sitting 911

So tonight has been really interesting for this little house sitter. I am back at the Bishop's House watching Madison while the Bishop and Gloria are in England. Always a good time over here. Anyway, at about 10:30pm I notice the lights of a firetruck are flashing outside on the street. I think to myself, I wonder what's going on across the street that called in a fire engine...

Little did I know that it was in fact this house they were coming to. Apparently, they got a call from the alarm company that there was a fire alarm going off at the house (there was no alarm going off by-the-by, so I was completely stunned by this turn of events). I caught my first clue that we were the subject of interest when I saw flashlight beams in my window where I was watching the TV.

30 minutes later, a call to the secretary Eileen, and a good scouring of every inch of this rather large house, turned up nothing. Tomorrow, we're getting the system checked. Crazy night!