shamrock

"Don't worry honey, it will all be better tomorrow."

A kind middle aged man watching me hobble up stairs at the oceanfront

We did it! Erin and I ran a fairly eventful 13.1 miles and Ryan completed his first marathon! Here is a picture of when running Shamrock seemed like a good idea: "Oh how fun, let's get our race gear ready!"

Now picture this: You have just run further than you have ever run in your entire life. You are in a significant amount of pain, digging through your race goodie bag looking for a beer ticket while hobbling towards the after party tent. You question whether you can make it all the way to the finish line festivities, but you trudge onward. At this moment, what is one thing that could make you incredibly happy in the most unexpected sort of way?

What's that? Did you say Bryan Hodges as the beer guy, smiling by the keg of Yeungling?

Yes, that's it. I couldn't have been happier to see Mr. B.

We really did have a great run yesterday. And I can't believe Ryan ran a marathon! I knew he would be able to do it, but good gracious 26.2 miles is a long way.

Ryan and the Hatcher men were on their yearly March madness trip last week, so we had an episode of 30 Rock on the dvr and of course the season finale of John and Kate plus 8 was tonight. We have been parked on the couch, triaging blisters and popping Advil (and hoping the best for the bone scan in the morning). Also, discussing what marathon is next. New York or San Francisco, who's in?


Holy cow that is one for the record books. (Just to be clear, that is Ryan's foot.)

garden

I've been reading Square Foot Gardening for weeks and am so excited that the little garden has come together. Dad gathered the boards and mulch and dirt and compost and the whole family came over Sunday afternoon to make it happen. I made friends with two older gentlemen that work at a little garden shop near my office. Lately it's been my favorite lunchtime adventure. I go and buy the weirdest seeds that they have. I feel I may be setting myself up for disaster - first of all, I have no idea what I'm doing so there is only like a 50% chance something will actually grow and second if they do grow, who is actually going to eat a white beauty eggplant?

This sounds suspiciously similar to the pumpkin soup disaster. I like making unusual foods, really enjoy it. The only problem is that the finished product is often inedible. Now I'm just taking it back a step further.

Tonight we planted our first little transplants, a few weeks behind the curve, but nevertheless they are in the ground.

I am excited to experience the way gardening punctuates seasons in a tangible, productive, connected way. Unless a rabbit comes and eats all of my baby lettuces tonight. I keep peeking out the window making sure they are all still there. So far so good.