I HEART electricity.

After dealing with two separate power outages due to fallen trees within one week in different neighborhoods of the city, I have to say I'm not sure I'm ready for what this fall/winter may bring weather-wise for the Pacific Northwest. I'm thinking it's a probably a good idea to maybe double check my flashlights and replenish my supply of batteries, candles and blankets over the next few weeks just in case.

Those of you who were running around in Seattle's 75+ degree weather this Saturday may not be convinced, but the Farmer's Almanac is predicting a "mild & very wet" winter for the Pacific Northwest. I'm pretty glad I started stocking up on rainboots.

Officially Embracing Fall 2010®

I am thoroughly convinced and resolute, folks - I don't care if it was sunny and beautiful for a while this weekend, because it was surely followed up with clouds and sprinkles. This is Fall in Seattle.

I spent most of my weekend on the Island and by Sunday morning (ok, let's be real - I woke up at noon) the sound of rain falling from the balcony above the window in Bear's bedroom had become a very familiar noise. I did my usual social media and email catch up via blackberry from the warm comfort of the blankets next to my sleepy boyfriend. Perusing through my daily influx of discount offers from Groupon, LivingSocial, Tippr and the like I found THE PERFECT DEAL for getting into the spirit of Fall (see? I'm so ready I'm even capitalizing it these days.)

For a surprisingly small amount of money, the bf and I have earned access to The Farm at Swan's Trail and it's huge 12-acre corn maze ("it contains over 250 actual roads and 400 places and towns marked by signs...There are 4-1/2 actual miles of highways and country roads within the maze,") putting course, cow train, hay maze, and petting zoo. Oh, and I can't forget to mention the WAGON RIDES and PUMPKIN PATCH, right?

You might think it strange for a grown woman to be so excited over all this and equally cruel to intend to drag my unassuming bf along, but I've got it under good authority that fun can and usually is had by all; the yelp reviews are pretty assuring too.

Whatever, it's all part of the Officially Embracing Fall 2010® campaign. The Official Search For Rainboots continues this evening, followed by a huge helping of homemade spaghetti and garlic bread. Maybe even some hot tea. While wearing a sweater. Yeahhhh.

I hate folding and hanging things up. There I said it.

Is there ONE chore that you absolutely detest? I know, I know, it's easy to dislike plenty of menial household duties, but is there one that you put off until you absolutely have to complete it? Personally, I used to abhor doing the dishes, but now that I have a dishwasher to use as a drying rack and I clean up after I use them it's not so bad.

Me? I love owning and wearing lots of cute clothes (thank goodness I don't have a bigger closet or I'd be in big big trouble) and I like the act of using the washer and dryer, but I really hate putting away my laundry.

Vacuuming, dusting, even washing dishes - I'm cool with that. Folding and ironing and the like - BLARGH-OSITY. The most consistent lingering mess in my apartment has always been and will always be the clean clothes that need to be put in their places.

It took me about 3.5 hours to move my clothes around and situate the freshly washed items the other night. Of course I had put it off for a week so the pile was monstrous between work and work out gear, plus I was editing for fall...It was definitely an undertaking.

As much as I aspire to be a Domestic Goddess, I have my doubts that I will ever come to enjoy this task.

I am an Iron Girl.

I did it. Two months of training and 67'19" later (a PR!), I completed another 10k.

Because I'm all about supporting my boo, I went to Bear's show Saturday night. Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication and the ensuing dispute I ended up staying well past my intended 11 PM departure time. Thankfully I didn't drink more than 2 Coronas the entire evening, but basically that put me in bed at 1 AM and asleep around 2 AM when I planned to be out of bed by 6:30 and on my way to Greenlake from West Seattle by 7 AM.

So, yeah, I did the Iron Girl 10k on 4.5 hours of sleep.

The Madre gave up her Sunday morning to give me a ride and support me, wisely bringing a bottle or two of water for the trip and trying to pump me up while I slowly chewed up a Luna bar and some dry puffed corn cakes. I'm never much fun before 9 AM, so I really appreciate that she selflessly agrees to chauffeur my grumpy ass around for my races; I'm even hoping next year we might be able to do the Iron Girl 5k as a Mother/Daughter Team!

Bear was miffed at me from the night before so I didn't get a single word of encouragement from him, which was a total bummer considering how important this run was to me. Thankfully, I knew the Madre was rooting for me at the finish line and got some textual encouragement from Cec mid-run so I managed to keep my head up and power through all 6.2 miles.

Oh, I was so glad for that run to be done. After we trekked back to Ma's car I was seriously too tired to even think about having breakfast and just wanted to get home to shower and change into some pjs so I could lounge the rest of the day away. Around 11 AM I called Bear and woke him up; he cabbed to my place shortly after, smooching me awake from my mini nap when he arrived and thoroughly congratulating me on my accomplishment.

I ordered up some celebratory pizza and wings for delivery, made some hummus and we spent the rest of the day napping and watching The Wire as we munched.

I was pretty sore and slow for the next 36 hours, but after eating fast food again on Monday and taking a few days off from any type of official fitness activity I'm finding myself incredibly antsy to get running again. Even though I don't have a specific distance I need to train for, I would like to get my average pace down below 10 minutes a mile before the Jingle Run - I suppose that as long as there is some goal that I have yet to attain, there will be the motivation to keep going.

Wait, that was it?

Ughhhhh, I am not ready for it to be so consistently gray in Seattle.

I've come to the conclusion that my only option is to consciously make the decision to embrace fall in a big ol' bear hug despite the fact it feels like I barely got to enjoy the summer. Don't get me wrong - I was looking forward to the new season, I just wasn't expecting it so soon.

I truly love fall and it's fashion; give me a great pair of jeans and boots, a fuzzy sweater or a fitted blazer and a cozy scarf and I am a happy happy girl. Essentially my first step will be rotating and assessing my wardrobe; this is technically perfect timing since I have a huge pile of laundry that currently needs to be put away. Then I'm contemplating finally going and buying myself a pair of cute rain boots so I can be ready to go out and play in the cool, wet weather.

Last year I was a bit distracted from my usual fall lovefest; this year I want to go to a corn maze and the pumpkin patch and carve pumpkins and burn candles that smell like the woods...I want to cover my furniture in soft, fluffy throws and pull out my slippers and pajama pants and read in front of the fireplace while I sip hot tea or hot toddies...I want to make soups and fresh breads and go for runs in the rain...

Ok, yeah, now I'm ready.

Whoa...I do feel different.

Though my 30th birthday was on Wednesday and went by without much fuss it wasn't until I woke up this morning that I realized how much my life has actually changed in the past 12 months:

A year ago today I was one day away from meeting Bear and my other dear Turkish friends.

I was a smoker.(!)

I had more piercings and less tattoos.

I was about 10 pounds heavier.

I was "running" about 2 miles at a go, with an average pace of 12'43", now my short runs are 2 miles and my pace averages 10'52".

I owned way more heels than flats.

So, like, things are generally pretty great, but honestly I've been having a difficult time being upbeat for the last half of this week.

My birthday, while nice and mellow, was a bit of a let down and I haven't been able to spend much time with Bear following our return from San Francisco because each weekend since then one or the other of us has had separate plans/obligations.

Now, although it's a special weekend for me (my birthday, 1 year of Bear and after 2+ months of training the Iron Girl 10k is finally here!) it looks like he won't be able to participate in any of it. Also, I bailed on having a birthday party mostly because of the show this weekend and it's looking like I'll essentially end the week having spent about 4 hours of non-sleep time with him. I realize his absence work-related, but it's still hard not to be sad that (again) he won't be able to share in these things that are important to me.

I just keep praying to some higher power that someday, somehow (preferably sooner than later) there won't be this feeling of "not enough" and we'll be able to get sick of spending too much time together. (Me praying to give up more of my "me" time?? No, I have not been body-snatched, lets just chalk that up as another big change this year.)

As for this weekend, I'm doing my best to resist the desire for mopey hibernation as I do have a little picnic planned with a few of my ladies tomorrow afternoon and 6.2 miles to run bright and early Sunday morning; my Madre will be there to see me cross that finish line and I am gonna do it with a smile.