Sunday, June 28, 2009

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

My love of Michael Jackson's music began in 1983, when my best friend at the time, Kelsie (whose mom was also my babysitter), somehow got her hands on a Thriller tape, and we would listen to it nonstop on her little brown Fisher Price cassette player. My obsession continued through the release of Bad -- I listened to it practically every day, as well as watched this Bad concert video I had (until the video somehow disappeared -- my mom is the prime suspect in its disappearance, since she kept hinting that she wished MJ "would go on vacation"). And while I got a shiny new pink 3-speed bicycle for my ninth birthday, my favorite gift was my very own copy of Moonwalk, Michael's autobiography.

I got the news of MJ's death when I landed in Seattle on Thursday -- I turned on my phone and had a barrage of text messages from friends who knew I was a big fan. Needless to say, I'm super bummed about it all. This is such a loss to the music world. MJ was incredibly innovative with both his music and dancing, and was a tremendous influence on countless other artists. I hope that everyone remembers all the great things he did, from the obvious contribution to music to all of his humanitarian efforts, rather than some of the darker periods of his life.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Day 2 of Our Seattle Adventure

After we rested from the race, we made a trip up the Space Needle. The view was unbelievable! I think we brought the sun with us to Seattle, because there hasn't been a cloud in the sky since we got here. We could see all the way to Mt. Ranier. We also went to the main shopping area and checked out the Nordstrom flagship store and a few other places before grabbing a delicious dinner at Queen City Grill in Belltown. We are planning a trip to Bainbridge Island tomorrow as well as checking out the pier and the Olympic Sculpture Garden. For now, I'm going to rest my poor sore legs...

At dinner -- full and tired.

Union Lake from the Space Needle

Downtown and Mt. Ranier.

Us on top of the Space Needle.

Awesome Race!

I just finished the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll half marathon! It was an awesome race -- a great course and beautiful scenery. We even saw a bald eagle! The day started not so great -- we got stuck in the elevator at our hotel and were trapped in there for 30 minutes before the fire department came and pulled us out. When we were finally free, we had to get a charter car to the start of the race. The race started in the nearby suburb of Tukwila and ended right by Safeco field. More on this later, but I put a little extra Michael Jackson in my race iPod mix, and Thriller was playing right as I crossed the finish. An omen, perhaps? Anyway, we are heading (read: hobbling) out to do some sightseeing soon -- although I would really just like to take a nap. More Seattle to come...

Me, Mom, and Kirby after the race.


Friday, June 26, 2009

Seattle: Day 1

Today is the first day of our Seattle trip. So far we really like it here, even though we didn't do much sightseeing today because I wanted to rest my legs for the race tomorrow. We went to the race expo at the Qwest Center (where the Seahawks play), walked around Pioneer Square, and ate dinner at a cute Italian restaurant in Pike Place called The Pink Door. We also stopped by the original Starbucks. Very touristy, I know, but I couldn't resist since I can't go a day without the caffeinated deliciousness that is Starbucks. Hopefully I will survive the race tomorrow and have more Seattle adventures to report!

The very first Starbucks!

Pike Place Market

John and me in front of the bay and The Pink Door.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Updates

So, we admit it - we've really slipped again at blogging. Mostly it's because our computer was so slow that it took forever to upload photos and post them to the blog. But, we just got a brand new MacBook Pro (early bday gift for John), so posting will be now be a breeze! We've been really busy lately. The weather has been pretty strange this summer -- it was cool for forever, then on Saturday it turned into a hot, humid, swampy mess, which definitely made my weekly half marathon training more difficult. On Saturday night, we went to one of our favorite summer festivals, Lincoln Park Summerfest (or as we like to call it, 'First Anniversary of Meeting Jared' since we met our fun friend at the festival last year). Basically this year was a repeat of last year, lots of 80's songs, sangria, and sweating. It was definitely fun, though (until the next morning, when I went into my sweatbox of an office and worked for 6 hours with the after-effects of all of that sangria).
Anyway, there will be more updates coming soon. We are going to Seattle this week for the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Half Marathon. We are taking our new computer with us, so we promise to provide some updates along the way!

The stage and crowd (and me looking deformed).

Mmmm. Sweaty sangria....


Yummy food and great people watching.