These photographs were taken by my sister, Beckie Kengle, of Rachael Grace.  Beckie has a knack for capturing beautiful portraits with fantastic expressions!

Last night we had a fabulous time celebrating Ann’s new house with her! She bought a lovely new house on the east side of town and just picked up the keys yesterday!

There was no need for furniture at this festive occasion. We all had a great time sharing some drinks, some laughs, some cloves (of course), and even a few dance moves on the comfy carpet. Even her dog, Maggie, joined in our enthusiasm of celebrating the new place! And as it turns out, my dad’s company, Custom Tile in Oroville, did the tile in the entire house after it was built. Crazy!

Well, congratulations, Ann! I am so happy for you!

This is a photo that Ann took on her Treo of me, Jenn, and her. We are on her new back patio enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

Yes! Digital art, finally!

Meet the newest addition to my art supplies… the Wacom Graphire4 6×8 Tablet! Some groovy features of this tablet include, but are not limited to…

• more accurate and comfortable creation of digital artwork, something I’ve always been wanting to do
• more accurate editing of photographs
• wireless and battery-free mouse and pen
• pressure sensitivity in the pen to control things like exposure, brush size, and opacity
• compatible with Windows Vista (yea!)
• compatible with Adobe Photoshop
• transparent surface, allowing me to customize the surface with my own photos and art

But I won’t be throwing out my “old-fashioned” art supplies just yet. I have no intention ever of giving up my traditional art. My favorite medium is, and always will be, graphite.

Beckie and me bein’ goofy at our family reunion of 2003 in San Clemente. My mom took this photograph.

Oh to be 16 again. Ok, not really. But I still think this is a cute photograph!

That’s me at 16, Malia Turner at 15 (a high school friend), and my sister, Beckie at 17. Beckie and I were both seniors that year. Things seem so different now! I love finding these old photographs (thanks, Beckie)! This photograph brings back several memories for me… one, that I had a skewed sense of how to style my bangs (ew, what was I thinking?); two, my eyebrows were quite a bit more tame (who has the time now?); and three, this is around the time my sister and I became really great friends. Not because we had to being sisters, but because we wanted to. :)

This is Rachael’s “camera pose”.

Beckie and me on Dad’s birthday… See Beckie’s version on her blog.

Well, we did it! Last Saturday, Amber and I completed the Summer Solstice Century in Quincy, California without a hitch… or flat, or crash. Just one dehydration headache (me, maybe those beers the night before weren’t the smartest choice in the world) and a bunch of chamois creepage (both of us).

I got a little nervous when Amber had a rough time getting her new tires on her bike that morning, followed by us being 5 minutes out of town before I realized I had completely forgotten to bring my cycling shoes. Darn mishaps! But it all turned out fabulously and we ended up having a great drive to Quincy with good chats and yummy coffee, and arrived in good time and ready to ride (tires on and cycling shoes included).

Unfortunately my headache set in during the first 5 miles of the ride, right during the hardest climbing of the entire route. I guess I’ll be making smarter choices about my liquid intake the day prior to any long ride I have planned in the future. The headache came and went throughout the ride but the worst was in the beginning, so that was good. The last thing I wanted was for my head to still be pounding 20 miles into the ride and the SAG wagon having to pick me up and take me back to the fairgrounds.

Overall verdict… I would definitely do the ride next year, hopefully the 100 km or the full century though. It was so beautiful and the scenery is just something we don’t have on our rides in Chico. I am so glad Amber asked me to do the ride with her! We had a great time riding together and we chatted it up almost the entire time, except during the most grueling of climbs when we could barely breath, of course. Thanks for riding with me, Amber! I had so much fun!

Here are my ride stats…

• Total Distance: 48.6 miles
• Total Riding Time: 3 hours, 46 minutes
• Total Rest Time: appr. 1 hour (2 main rest stops, 3 minor stops)
• Total Time: appr. 5 hours
• Average Speed: 12.8 mph
• Max Speed: 34 mph (woo hoo!)
• Calories Burned: appr. 3,000

Tomorrow, my friend, Amber, and I will be riding our road bikes in the Summer Solstice Century, the 50-mile loop. It takes place in Quincy, California, which is only about two hours from Chico. I’m very excited to be riding in this event for more reasons than one.

1. I get to ride with Amber, who traveled all the way out here from Virginia.
2. It’s in a beautiful area I haven’t ridden in yet.
3. It has a 3,000′ elevation gain, which would normally be something that I would bawk at but have decided that I’m looking forward to the challenge (hopefully all the clove smoking I’ve done this week won’t kill me).
4. It’s followed by an even more beautiful and relaxing weekend in the mountains of Sierra City, California, with Jenn and Ryan.

So far, the only cycling event I’ve ever participated in was the Wildflower Century, which took place this last April (and which I lamely never posted about). I had a blast riding with my friend and training buddy, Jenn, on the Flatflower 60-mile route. Next year we’d like to do the full century. We just have to defeat the climb up to Table Mountain first! I’ve been trying to add more physical events to my schedule because it seems to keep me more focused on maintaining a regular exercise routine. Otherwise, I’ve tended to start slacking off in my effort level if there’s no “purpose” other than staying in shape.

In September, I’m planning on competing in the Triathlon at Pacific Grove with my friend, Kat and possibly Jenn. It has a 440 yard swim (dubbed the “Kelp Crawl”), a 12.4 mile bike ride (easy-peasy), and a 2 mile run (not so easy-peasy because I pretty much suck at running). This will be my first triathlon, as well as my first physical competition since I played softball my senior year in high school.

So, yeah, I’m a little nervous about it since I tend to have an excessively competitive nature when it comes to sports, and I’ve finally been able to get over that in the last few years. The last thing I need is for it to resurface because of this triathlon. Once I get competitive I start to have a little less fun. So my goal is to stay focused on just me and convince myself that everyone around me is just “participating” as well, not competing. We’ll see how it goes. I’ve bailed on this triathlon the last two years, so this year is definitely the year for me. No more avoiding it. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for myself since we (Jenn, Amber, and Sam) started training together two years ago.

Bring it on!

Hooray! Her hair is finally long enough for barrettes!

Rachael Grace, 20 months. This photograph was taken by my sister, Beckie Kengle.