A Journey of a thousand miles begins with two tickets

Journey. Foreigner. In concert. Do you see that look on Richard's face? It is pure bliss. HE only gets that look when he is eating buffalo chicken pizza and watching the Empire Strikes back...and when he is at a concert featuring his favorite band of all time!

prior to Richard's birthday this year, Richard told me "you know, there is not anything that I really want for my birthday this year..." which is code for "this is a test to see how well you really know me, and there had better be at least 40 presents, all nuanced and specific to my unique likes." (or, at least, that is how I chose to interpret that benign but loaded statement).

I like a good challenge! So for Richards birthday, I gave him the 12 days of Richard's birthday, and gave him a heart shaped note with a poem on it and a present for 12 days. The gifts were sometimes as small as his favorite orange juice or cheese or candy bar, but I also got him a Hot Wheels miniature delorean (ala "Back to the Future") and drew him an original cartoon featuring a pun ("the Eyes have it"-- accompanied by a drawing of some ears and eyes playing a championship basketball game in which the eyes are winning. It was brilliant.)

On Richard's actual birthday, we had lunch in the space needle and I gave Richard his grand day #12 gift: tickets to see Foreigner and Journey in concert.

Hah! Take that Mr. "There is not anything that I want" Rose! You wanted it...bad!!

I was surprised at how many songs I knew. In fact, every time I knew a song I would shout gleefully to Richard "I know this one!!" and "I know this one too!!" All of them were hits! Foreigner was the stand out act of the evening. They still know how to rock hardcore!!!

In fact, if this picture above looks like a supernova is occurring on stage-- well, that is EXACTLY what is happening. They were on fire.
I think going to this concert helped Richard feel more like a kid again, despite the fact that we were surrounded by 40 year olds... which is better than our last cruise, where we were surrounded by 70 year olds. Maybe next year we can actually hang out with our own generation and go see the Backstreet Boys :)

Miracles and Marathons (well, half at least!)

Ever since I ran my first marathon in 2004, I have dreamed of someday running a marathon with my husband and crossing the finish line together with hands clasped in shared victory.

Well, that didn't happen, but we came pretty darn close.

A couple of months ago, a few friends and I decided to run a half marathon in October to celebrate Oktoberfest in this little Bavarian town called Leavenworth. Thinking that I was being both understanding and magnanimous, I told Richard that he could come up and be my cheerleader. Little did I know how that comment would fester until RIchard would decide to run the half marathon himself and show me who was a cheerleader.

Leavenworth was really great! It only took two hours to be transported to Switzerland!
But Washington would not be Washington without its Starbucks coffee (but it is just so much cuter with flower boxes and European lettering).
this was the fish hatchery (the FISH HATCHERY) where we picked up our race packets and both started and ended the half marathon. We did not get a free fish with every entry.
But at least you get a sense of how gorgeous Washington can be (once the clouds move).

a picture taken along the half marathon route. (its a camera AND its a phone! and its also a mapmyrun thingy).Richard just before the race. At the fish hatchery. In Leavenworth. During Oktoberfest.

Anna and I made these posters for Richard. He went from total sedentary accountant to roadrunner! Every long run he would say "thats the longest I have ever run in my WHOLE life." And then he would compare it to me running 27 miles. The biggest dillema for me was whether we would run together or individually. On the one hand was my dream...on the other hand was my desire to beat the pants off of everyone! I asked Richard what his preference was, and he responded that the main factor was whichever choice produced the least amount of regret for me. In his own words: "I know that you always wanted to cross the finish line with your husband...are you going to make me run another race because you didn't get to live your fantasy?"

In my defense, my fantasy involved running a marathon together, not a half, and my fantasy also didn't involve my husband listening to his ipod with noise canceling headphones which negate any opportunity to converse and share the experience while we run together.

So the fantasy still lives.

One of the really cool parts of this race was having so many friends up there running it with us. In the picture above, Jared is demonstrating the absolute joy that comes with wearing Dora the Explorer bandaids for chafing protection.

These women were just two of the dozens of runners in full costume regalia celebrating Oktoberfest. I'm sad I didn't get a picture of the man in leiderhosen :(

Kari, my friend who just showed up spur of the moment to run the race with her friend. No big deal, just 13 miles when you haven't trained for it. She looks like she just won publishers clearing house.

Rose and Becky. Awesome awesome. They both made times that were well under their goals. Do I know how to make friends, or what!!!

My favorite part of the race, as always, is the grab bag afterward. I judge the strength of a race by the free goodies they give me afterward. THIS WAS THE BEST RACE EVER!!! There were candy bars, apples, bananas, muffins, granola bars, licorice, jelly bellys, nutella, cookies, and fruit leather. The other runners were mere amateurs, just trying to hold snacks in their hands. I asked for a bucket, and then filled it to the brim. My bucket makes me happy!

don't know why I am making this expression. I would like to think that I am just trying to pop my ears from the increased elevation, but I don't think that was it. I leave you to imagine.

Richard finished his half marathon in 2 hours 23 minutes.

Rachael finished her half marathon in 1 hour 41 minutes. Richard was right, your playlist is everything. I finished the race listening to Bonnie Tyler's "looking out for a hero" from the Footloose soundtrack. I am the hero!!

The miracle of the race was that Richard had our car key in his pocket when he started running t the race and at mile 7 realized that it was no longer there. A single black key, somewhere in 7 miles of trail. Two hours away from our home. The couple carpooling with us promptly decided they were going to go home with somebody else, and Richard and I both said some prayers. I had seen God work miracles in our lives before, but I honestly didn't know how HE was going to get us out of this one. However, when Richard was getting his race T-shirt from one of the volunteers after he finished, he just happened to mention that he had lost his car key somewhere on the race course and she said "oh, someone turned in a key about 10 minutes ago-- its right over here. Is this it?" and there was our single black key, turned in by some awesome, and compassionate runner."

Hallelujah! God does answer prayers! Happy Oktoberfest to everyone!

A day that would ricochete throughout history...

One of my first roommates, Megan, once had a dream about the man I would marry. She told me that he would have sandy hair and be so tall that he would have to stoop under doorways.

Four years ago today I was playing Monopoly at the home of a young, handsome, and very tall returned missionary named Rich. He had invited me over on a Sunday afternoon to play games (board games), and in typical girl fashion, I brought over some food, or at least, the promise of food. I tried to make homemade cinnamon rolls at his house while we talked, and instead of luring him into submission over ooey gooey rolls, I burned them terribly.

But I completely dominated the game and won by a landslide. Rich wasn’t use to losing.

After a few hours of talking (and a little flirting, I have to admit), I came to the conclusion that I would not be at all disappointed if this young man asked me out on a date (despite the self appointed dating sabbatical I was on at the time). We enjoyed a good evening and I told him that I would be leaving for England the following Thursday for a six week internship.

And then I went home…not a little perplexed that I had no return appointment (maybe I had just been imagining the chemistry…oh well).

When I got home, I realized I had forgotten my rolling pin (and YES, I did really forget it). So I called Rich and he graciously offered to bring it back to me. He pulled up to my apartment, returned the rolling pin, and left after just a few minutes. Again, I was a little perplexed.

As he drove away, I sent him a text message which read:

“that was a long way to come just to deliver a rolling pin…you could have extracted a lot more from me than that”

And then I went inside, said my prayers, and got ready for bed. In my prayers I asked, or rather informed, God that if HE wanted me to pursue something with this Rich fellow, that HE should let me know. And I left it at that (the aforementioned dating sabbatical).

Well, I underestimated the power of that text message, because when Rich got home and read it, he turned himself right back around and drove back to my house.

I was already in bed when I heard a knock at the door. I could hear his voice outside talking to my roommate. She of course let him in, and then she hid behind her bedroom door to listen.

He told me: “I couldn’t wait six weeks, or even ten minutes to see you again”

And then he kissed me…

And then he asked me out!

And the rest is history. June 11 is when Richard and Rachael officially began.