Spokane Day One: Kenyon Is A Tourist

Our first full day in Spokane started early. 5am early! Poor Kenyon didn't get much sleep after getting off work Friday morning. Than he didn't get much sleep Friday night.

We woke up early and since Dawny is a super early riser, we decided to just meet up for breakfast and get our day started. Dawny loves to go to Molly's Family Restaurant and raves about the buttermilk biscuits.

I decided I would make my own breakfast sandwich and try out one of these biscuits. They are tasty indeed! Kenyon and I shared a breakfast plate so I had my egg and german sausage (house made) on a biscuit with strawberry jam. I didn't like the taste of the sausage patty so I gave that to Kenyon. No point in waisting calories.

We realized we were super early with lots of time to kill before the expo opened where Dawny was to get her race number. We went to check out the Saturday Farmer's Market, which was really tiny. The flowers were a-plenty and so beautiful.

I wanted to show Kenyon the beautiful Spokane Riverfront so we parked at the mall where we got a deal of $6 for all day parking as opposed to the usual $8 parking fee. We walked over to the park and down to the waterfall. I wanted to do the gondola ride so we thought it would be fun to see it up close before we took our ride. Waterfalls are just so much fun to look at.

Dawny's friend sent her link with information about an event going on where you could get a wristband to ride the rides in the park for free. We scouted out the tent to get our free wristbands and stood in the already growing line for the gondola. Unfortunately we were still 20 minutes from the opening of the ride and we had the sun beating down on us. Dawny and I were able to convince the people in line to move the line into the shade. At first those in front were skeptical. But once we told them we were not cutting but moving the whole line, they conformed. After we exited our ride, low and behold, the line was still in the shade but had grown by miles. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

After our gondola ride we wanted to ride the tour train through the park but after waiting 30 minutes, in the shade thankfully, the ride filled before our turn to the front of the line came. Since that meant another 45 minutes in the sun we decided to call it a day. I absolutely love the Riverfront park though. Beautiful.

On our way to the expo we found a donut truck. Kenyon loves donuts so we went to investigate. The gal at the window asked if we wanted a sample. Uh....yeah! I told her I would give her a shout out on my blog so she hooked us up good with lots of samples. OMG. Delicious.

We decided on lunch at Rocky Rococo pizza, where Dawny raved about the salad bar. You can buy a slice of pizza and get a salad bar with a drink for about $9 or so. It did not disappoint. It was some really good pizza.

From there we went to the mall to take care of an errand Dawny needed to run and then took Kenyon back to the hotel to rest/relax. Dawny and I went and saw Aloha, which was nothing like we expected. It is a very, very, very weird movie. We met back up with Dawny and her husband Ted for dinner at Azteca.

I wasn't super hungry so I got the tostadas, came with three, and shared with Dawny. It was really good. I finished off with a mini Reeses PB cup McFlurry at McDonalds. I've awoken my sweet tooth. Uh oh.

Today we cheer on Dawny during her half marathon. Gooooooo Dawny!

Surprise! I'm In Spokane

Surprise!! We are in Spokane this weekend so we can cheer Dawny as she completes her second half marathon. WhoooHooo!

Let's rewind.

Several months ago Dawny told me she was going to walk in the Windemere Half Marathon, her second time, as she has increased her walking time and wanted to challenge herself. I started planning a trip but was waiting to see where the cards would fall as the date got closer. The stars must have aligned because the trip was a go and we drove the 7ish hour distance yesterday. It was a super busy few days.

I had a hair appointment after work on Thursday and due to a scheduling conflict, my hairdresser moved Jamie's appointment to Thursday as well. So it was fun to visit as we each waited for our hair to process. Jamie had her girls there too as they were getting fun color added to a few strands of their hair. Audrey went bold while Veronica went subtle. It turned out great!

Jamie took a photo of me getting my eyebrows waxed. Hey...beauty is pain!

I was starving when I left the hair dresser as I had stayed longer than planned. I stopped by Costa Vida on my way home. I'd make a deal with myself that if the small sweet pork salad was the deal of the day ($6.99 including drink) then I'd get that. Well it was. I really wanted a big salad and tried to talk myself into it. But I didn't and stuck to the small salad with the small tortilla on the side. It was plenty delicious.

I should have been tackling my to-do list but I was exhausted. I had some dessert and finished up last week's Bachelorette. Oh my. It was a good one.

I had a million things to do on Thursday and Friday morning but there just wasn't enough time to get it all done. I ended up having to spill the beans early to Dawny about our visit. My plan was to surprise her along our drive with text photos. Alas, she was still super excited.

Friday morning I had to get an oil change and purchase a spare tire. My car was sold without one as it appears to be an optional feature. That took two hours, which I wasn't expecting. This is the first time I've left town without cleaning the house, washing the sheets, and mowing the lawn. I usually like to return from a trip to all of that being done. Oh well. Such is life.

Lots of fun to be had this weekend. Let's get this party started!

TGIF On A TH

Today is my Friday!!!  A Friday on a Thursday?  I’ll take it!  And, I have the next 10 days off.  Those 10 days will be filled with reunion/celebration stuff but, I know I’ll feel less stressed not having to deal with a 10-hour work day on top of everything else.

I know I’ve talked about it a little bit and next Saturday is the big day that we have been planning for since January 2014.  I am a Joyce descendant and the family ranch has been operating for 150 years.  This is the oldest working ranch in Idaho that is still in the same family lines 150 years later.  Since this is a pretty big deal, a committee of six has been meeting for several months to plan the big event along with the days before that will involve field trips to the homestead properties and to Silver City.  For the last three weeks we have been meeting weekly and last night was the last of our major meetings.  Starting next Tuesday we will be in full party mode with rentals being delivered and set up that needs to happen. 

I am an amazing party planner and this is right up my alley.  However, planning a party of this caliber has been a bit stressful.  I know I’ve been feeling it these last two weeks.  It is as if there just aren’t enough hours in the day.  I need about 10 more hours to get everything done that I needs tackled.  I’ve ended up putting exercise on the back burner and while I am still trying to make cleaning eating choices, I am not very successful at that.

I know the one thing I do have control over is what I put into my mouth.  I am going to make better food choices and not less stress drive my eating.  I don’t usually struggle with stress eating, however, I know I can feel it and I know it has detoured some of my eating.  The biggest thing that can help is having a meal plan in place.  It will be long and busy days all next week.  I’ll be moving around a lot so I expect to get some steps logged on my FitBit.  I’ll plan to pack food in the cooler so I am making the best food choices possible.