Color Kaleidoscope.

The summer was filled with colorful inspiration! It seemed as if soooo many products, living spaces and fashion pieces were saturated with bright mixes of color. Sounds like a dream. :) Here are some of my favorites!

I hope the summer brought you a kaleidoscope of colors in sunsets, summer parties, and travel!

International Defense 7's

A couple weekends ago, Sister came up so we could go watch rugby at Infinity Park! I had seen an ad for this tournament in the local paper (yes, I'm old fashioned and I love to read real newspapers!) and we thought it would be a fun way to learn a little more about such a unique sport! Tickets were cheap and we spent an entire beautiful Saturday watching rugby matches; why not?!

photo credit: infinity park website

*all photo credits to Sister!*

This was a military tournament called International Defense 7's. Normal rugby is played with 15 people on each team but in Defense 7's, there are only 7 people on each side and the play time is much shorter. It makes for a lively game and we got to see lots of them because they were so quick!
This particular military tournament has never been held off a military base...so this was a pretty special thing. All the US military forces were there (Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines) as well as the British Royal Air Force, British Army, French Army and Australian Army. It was pretty fun to listen to accents and see the cultural personalities play out on the field.

ouch!

We had a blast, learned a lot about rugby and officially have no desire to play on any women's team-ha! I don't know how those girls do it!

Larabar Half Marathon!

The morning after I returned from Seattle, I ran my first Half-Marathon! I was pretty intimidated because I've always only run mostly 5K and  (1) 10K races -shorter distances. But 30 days before the race, I decided to do it-ha. 

The typical training plan for a Half is a very methodical 12 weeks...well, I jumped in at week 8! I began upping my mileage on regular runs and getting a sense for my natural pacing during longer runs. It got to be pretty fun and relaxing to head out on a 7 mile run, instead of intimidating. I usually hit a point after 2-3 miles where I felt like I was on autopilot; this is a crazy feeling because running shorter distances, you really push as hard as you can through the race. Longer races, I'm discovering, allow for some freedom to just "cruise."

My only goal for this was to finish. I knew what pace I typically ran so I had a time in mind but honestly I just didn't want to have to walk. And I didn't have to! 

This was the first half marathon that Larabar has put on...so fun to be part of the inaugural one!

The sunrise that morning, as I waited for the shuttle to the start line, was gorgeous!

I felt pretty good on the run up until mile 10...so exciting! Miles 10-13.1 were where I found out what I was made of-ha. It was a weird thing to have to concentrate so hard on my stride and yet also try not to think about how heavy and tired my legs were. I kept telling myself, "The faster the pace, the quicker you get to the finish line." ha. It wasn't until I saw mile marker 13 that I actually believed I might finish the race without walking. It was amazing and I got this weird burst of energy to finish strong! So thankful!

Sister was so sweet to drive up to be at the finish line! Here I am, coming around the final curve.

So happy to be nearing the end!

Done!

I crossed the finish line and gave Sister a huge, sweaty hug-ha. So thankful for God's grace to accomplish this goal! 

And my legs started cramping almost immediately-ha. 

My amazing, supportive Sister!!

I am anxious to do another one soon; it felt great! For now, at least I can check that off the bucket list. :)

Seattle-Pike Place Market & The Eastside

Although it is hard to pick a single favorite place to be in Seattle, Pike Place Market is the winner!!As a lover of fresh flowers, this is the mecca. You simply can't top the experience you have here nor can you find bulging bouquets for the price you pay here; its the place to beat! When I lived in Seattle, I used to try to go down once a week to get a fresh bouquet for the house...at $5 a whack, it's affordable inspiration for your home. :)

I also had the chance to spend some time with Amy and Kyle, meeting their little one, Ethan, for the first time! It happened to be his first time to the market; lots to discover!

Ethan was enthralled with the cars driving down below...made for a cute picture!

We hung out on the eastside in Kirkland for a couple days, catching up and cooking!

bribing Ethan, with a ball, to smile for a picture-ha!

the gorgeous Kirkland water front!