You may recall, summer before last when SB and I participated in the ALS DoubleDay, an 85 mile bike ride to benefit the Evergreen Chapter of the ALS Association. I was all pregnant and extra badass for attempting such a thing. But I did it!

It was such a great experience in so many ways. The ride itself is beautiful, and we had a wonderful time with many of our friends who also participate. It also felt so good to be involved with a great cause, and to raise money for an organization that does such important work. They do more than just search for a cure, which can seem so nebulous, they support the families and improve the lives of people who suffer from this terrible disease. After the first day of the ride, there’s a spaghetti dinner where the direct beneficiaries speak about the difference this organization makes in their lives, and it’s so gratifying! So often, we never see the results that occur from our donations, but I can attest to how much good each dollar donated accomplishes.

This weekend, we’re doing it again and I couldn’t be more excited! I’m posting about this today to make one last plea for some cizzash. I’m almost to my fundraising goal, and if you have even a few bucks to toss my way, you’d have my undying gratitude. I’ll even send you a sweaty finish line photo thank you card!

Here is a link to my fundraising page. If you, by any chance, plan on fundraising for anything in the future, I promise to return the favor! Most of the folks who’ve donated to me already are people whose cancer walks or whatever I’ve contributed to. Tit for tat, you know.

I’ll be sure to post a recap of our adventures on Monday. Hopefully featuring no soaking wet photos like this one of me and my pal Tina at the finish line in ‘08!

ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. You can learn more about it here.

SB and I attended a formal fundraiser for the Zoo over the weekend. It’s a hoot! (Ha! I kill me!) The tickets are pricey, but it’s a good cause of course, and the food and drink and entertainment are pretty spectacular.

Something to take special note of, is the fact that I had an UP-DO. My hair has been too short for an up-do for 10+ years. (I hesitate to say that I’m growing it out, because that means I’m embarking on a 5-year process I’m unsure I have the patience for, but I HAVE been trying to obtain a little more length so as to have more options.) Anywho, my hair lady is an absolute wizard and I appreciate, how I can show up with a flower and be like, “I don’t know, make something pretty” whilst making vague swirling gestures about my head, and she’ll perform a miracle.

(Please forgive if you’ve seen these photos all over the facebooks and the twitters and whatnot. We don’t look this good very often.)

Friday night, I saw the Indigo Girls in concert. Though it’s been a few years, I’ve lost count how many times I’ve seen them. This time, they performed in my beloved hometown, however, and I couldn’t pass it up.

OMG, I am SO GLAD I went. SO GLAD that I spent good money on a seat in the 6th row all by myself. I’m not sure I can adequately describe what a great expereince it was. I was completely shocked, several times, as they began singing a song and tears burst from my eyes, flooding my face and my tissue-less hands.

They’ve been a part of my life for so long. I think I bought my first tape of theirs when I was 18. It’s as if they’ve been with me through the entire forming of my identity. Their voices seem a part of my consciousness somehow.

When they took the stage, I felt like I was seeing old friends. I would have run up and sqeezed them if I could. And of course, they put on a fantastic show. I guess I went into it thinking, “this’ll be a pleasant evening,” but left the show high on life.

I just love them. LOVE.

I did something super cool this weekend. I attended a beginning photography workshop for women put on by Me Ra Koh, who is a total photgraphy celebrity and happens to live in Tacoma. She does these workshops all over the country and I’ve been waiting and waiting for her to do one locally.

You know that I love photography and that I have a good camera and whatnot, but honestly if I ever take a good picture, it’s an accident. Before this weekend, I had no idea WHY a picture would be good, WHY the background looked all nice and fuzzy sometimes, or whatever. But now! NOW I understand ISO and aperture and shutter speed and metering! I understand what makes a picture good! I know what I need to do to take professional quality pictures! (That would be practice, and buy some expensive lenses.) I AM NOT AFRAID OF MY CAMERA ANYMORE!!

Not only that, I got to meet and hang out with a great group of cool women who I think, the local ones anyway, might actually turn into friends. And of course I got to meet and hang out with the lovely and talented Me Ra Koh, who previously I have only blogstalked and secretly stared at at the Y. Now I can I say hello!

The first day, we learned about our cameras and then a group of moms and babies came and we got to practice on them in various lighting conditions throughout the lovely B&B where the workshop was held. It was such a great exercise. I went from super frustrated to elated and back again. I learned that my current lenses won’t let me do what I want, that it’s the lenses, not me. How cool is that? There’s something so empowering about understanding the problem.

And look what I did! Doesn’t this look like a REAL photographer took it?

I’m so excited to have my own little subject to torment!

Anyway! OMG! SQUEEEEEE!!

Firstly, I didn’t even realize how hilarious this is until she arrived to pick us up, but SB had plans and we didn’t want to hassle with parking, so my mom totally dropped us off. Sweet.

You guys, it was probably the most fun concert I’ve ever been to, and I’m not even kidding. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It was absolutely UNREAL to be surrounded by thousands and thousands of women in their 30’s, all giddily LOSING. THEIR. SHIT. Seriously. Everyone stood the WHOLE TIME. The screaming was nearly non stop, the volume level nearly painful.

They put on a really good show! They looked and sounded great, tight dance moves and whatnot, big lights and screens and fireworks and the whole shebang. I think they must have worked with some kind of adolescent female psychologist or something to know exactly how to best whip us into a frenzy. For example, they’d be singing an oldie, you’d be on your feet screaming and dancing, and then on the big screen would be a choice clip from a video that you haven’t seen in 20 years but you saw approximately 1 million times back in the day, and then you’d COMPLETELY lose it. There they are, walking in slow motion up that hill in Boston with the subway in the background….EEEEEEEE!!!! I cannot use enough caps or exclamation point to convey the crazy flashback-to-budding-sexuality/childlike glee this concert inspired in me and everyone around me.

Truly, it seemed like the T-Dome was sprinkled in some kind of magic fairy dust of happiness. Perhaps they say this to all the cities, but they kept commenting on how great the crowd was, one of the best they’d had. And it seemed like they were having so much fun! At the end they were jumping around and hugging eachother!

It was everything I wanted it to be and more. They really did impress me. Jordan is still my favorite. He sang “I’ll Be Loving You Forever” in the original key, I’ll have you know.

Other funny/interesting observations and quotes include:

- I have never in my life seen such a crowded merch table. There were women clutching money stacked 20 wide and 20 deep after the show. Are these guys brilliant, or what? They’re like, let’s have a comeback when all our fans have cash! More than just babysitting money to spend this time around.

- Donna: After screaming our heads off throughout the first song, “I think I taste blood.”

- At one point I glanced over at Tiana and she looked sort of dazed, staring glassy-eyed at the stage. I thought to myself, maybe she wants to sit down or maybe she’s not having fun anymore. Then she leaned over and said, “I can’t stop looking at Donnie. He’s such an good dancer! He’s just a little bit thug and I guess I like it! If my husband could move like that, we’d have 10 kids.”

- Single, 30-something, guy friend Chris before the show: “That sounds like a target-rich environment”

- You know how when you buy something from iTunes, it asks you if you are SURE you want to buy it? I’ve never found that offensive until I was buying the NKOTB greatest hits. I was all, “Um yes, iTunes! What are you trying to say?!”

Thanks for such a great time, ladies. I hope they do this again in another 20 years!

I was trying to think of round things I could paint on my belly, like a basketball, or a beach ball, or the world, and then I finally came up with the perfect round thing that allowed me to be topical and still comfortably dressed.

And just on the off chance you don’t recognize this symbol: (hey, there were actually a few at the party we went to who didn’t)

I was quite pleased with myself.

I did fine. I finished half. I am mostly okay with this. Yes, yes, I know, I am so awesome. No, there were no other pregnant people that I saw. Yes, I KNOW. It still doesn’t change the fact that I’m disappointed. I wanted to do better.

Again, with the identity crisis. Who am I if I am not able bodied? I DON’T KNOW. That’s the point. But enough with the navel gazing, here’s my adventure.

Here we are leaving the house at the ass crack. I was feeling nervous. And awake too early.

We got dropped off and found our place in the line up. There were tons of people. It was still very dark.

I could only keep up with my friends for the first mile. Here are their retreating backs. Bye, ladies! Good luck!

I was actually feeling pretty good, I just have to walk slow these days. I did fine by myself. It wasn’t like when I tried to do training walks alone, and would be bored and end up focusing on my aching feet or whatever. There was plenty of exciting stuff to look at, people everywhere, cheering crowds, bands, volunteers handing out gatorade, and of course, thousands and thousands of cups on the ground.

I eventually found my pace. It didn’t seem to me like I was walking that slowly, but as the very large, elderly, and even electric wheelchair people all passed me by, I suddenly turned around and realized I was last.

LAST.

Yes. Out of the thousands and thousands of people who did the Portland Marathon, I was last. Soon I was being trailed very closely by the police sweeper car.

It was pretty funny. Soon there were two. Two cop cars with the flashy-flashy, following not 20 feet behind me. The bands would stop playing as I passed, the baricades would be taken up and the streets would re-open, the tables of gatorade would have one cup left. I’d take it, and then the volunteers would pack up and go. LAST.

I called my mom, who was of course worried about me, and told her that she need not. Should I collapse, or trip, or wash away in a sudden downpour, I had two of Portlands’s Finest on hand for easy rescue. Fortunately, nothing was wounded but my pride.

But! I finished half. At the 13.1 mile mark (oh, what a lovely spot. Note the nude dancer sign), I surrendered. SB picked me up and whisked me away to food, a hot shower, and warm clothes.

The others were still out there. Did I mention the weather was almost as bad as it could have possibly been? It was. This cool shot is courtesy of BFF’s dad, featuring the shit-tay weather and fine Portland architecture.

Then I went to meet my girls at the finish line. They all did really well, finishing in 6:01 and 6:24.

All in all, I’m glad I did it, but I’m glad it’s over. I wanted this experience to make me feel rad, but instead, I constantly compared myself to non-pregnant people and never felt good enough. My hormones aren’t any help, either. I am DONE crying about this stoopid race!

Thanks for putting up with all this moaning and whinging. Now that I only have to focus on being pregnant and getting ever larger, I should be in much better spirits. I am excelent at those things.

UPDATED TO ADD: I was reminded today after posting this that I am very thankful to be pregnant. It’s unfortunate that I seem to be able to complain about it more easily than I can rejoice in it. I don’t know what my freaking problem is.

Anyway, The Puyallup! I didn’t take as many pictures as I normally do, mostly because it’s hard to photo document while stuffing your face, but here are a few things I have to show you.

Check out this bunny:

Are you giggling? Do you need to see him again?

Wouldn’t you freak out if that thing hopped into your yard?

One of my favorite places to visit at the fair is the Floral Barn (dork) where you can see all the prize winning flowers and arrangements. They also have things like orchids and bonsai trees, where we saw something almost as unusual as that bunny:

As you can see, someone has combined their love of bonsai tree cultivation and Nascar. Huh!

I was quite sad that I couldn’t go on the big roller coaster this year, due to the fetus, but SB and I went on the Sky Ride after dark and looked down at all the twinkly lights below. I hadn’t been on it since highschool, when I was asked to Homecoming by a sweaty, nervous boy.

SB did not ask me to Homecoming, but a good time was had by all. Stay tuned for a shot of my favorite part of the Fair, the Produce Murals, of course. (even dorkier)

Over the weekend, SB and I attended the 80th Anniversary Celebration at the summer camp where I worked in college Camp Huston. It’s a very special place for me, and for us, because we were also married there.

Activities included dinner and a camp dance, then much drinking and carrying on, followed by breakfast and a chapel service in the morning. It was SO WONDERFUL to see so many old friends and all of their babies.

We were able to inspect many models of child. Did you know, BOYS ARE DIFFERENT? Seriously, nearly all of my friends have girls, but this weekend we were able to observe several boys in action. They seem a bit harder.

Camp Beauty:

The Chapel where we got married:

Some of the cabins, and the dining hall up top, where we had our reception:

The Wallace River:

Dancing!

Anyway, I love my Camp. I have so many great memories of the summers I spent there. Doing the dances and singing the songs this weekend made me giddy to bursting, and even a bit teary at times. That place just holds so much love for me. You know that old 10,000 Maniacs song, These are the days? I believe it was written for Camp Huston.

These are the days
These are days you’ll remember
Never before and never since, I promise
Will the whole world be warm as this
And as you feel it,
You’ll know it’s true
That you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you
Are touched by something
That will grow and bloom in you

These are days that you’ll remember
When May is rushing over you
With desire to be part of the miracles
You see in every hour
You’ll know it’s true
That you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you are touched
By something that will grow and bloom in you

These are days
These are the days you might fill
With laughter until you break
These days you might feel
A shaft of light
Make its way across your face
And when you do
Then you’ll know how it was meant to be
See the signs and know their meaning
It’s true
Then you’ll know how it was meant to be
Hear the signs and know they’re speaking
To you, to you

Yes, we were car camping, but we weren’t exactly in for THIS kind of car camping. CAR being the operative word, as we were essentially in a parking lot. We knew we wanted to go somewhere down on the Columbia, and when we started looking for places on the internets, everywhere was booked. When we found a place with ONE SPACE LEFT, we immediately snatched it up and hoped for the best.

Not only was it in a parking lot, it was also in a wind tunnel. Yes, we did notice all the windsurfers and wind farms on the way in, but you know, we weren’t exactly prepared to be camping in such harsh conditions. You couldn’t set a beer down (or an O’Douls, as the case may be) with out it blowing over. You had to hold onto your plate with one hand while you were eating, or it would blow away, too. It was nuts!

So, please enjoy a few scenes from the weekend, even though this is not as glowing of a report as I would have liked it to be. We all still had a great time, of course, because it was the excellent company that mattered the most. Plus it was good and HOT.

The peace and solitude…

Nature!

We are recent converts to the camping air mattress. I’ve always been perfectly fine with my Thermarest, secretly scoffing at others and their “Dream Beds”. But after last weekend, waking up with a mysteriously flat Thermarest and a wet sleeping bag, we finally broke down and got our own. DUDE. I can’t wait to go camping again! It was SO COZY!

No one has to wait for coffee with THREE Freedom Presses!

A good time was had by all. At least there was good people watching!