Hi everyone! Hope you all have had a fun, relaxing weekend. It was busy and fun-filled and I can’t wait to give you the low-down.
First things first, check out my new official Oiselle Athlete Profile. So legit! What do you think? Any questions that you have for me?
This week, I’m happy to announce that I’ve made some great progress with the good ol’ morning running with two AM runs! Ever since we switched to daylight savings last weekend, it’s more light out nowadays and a bit more enticing than running blindly in the dark.
Wednesday 4.5 Miler
On Wednesday, since I had planned to have dinner and catch up with my friend, I decided that it was now or never to try out the morning runs again.
Bright and early at 6:30am, I got myself out of bed and sleepily put on my running clothes. For the run, I wore my Oiselle Lesley Knickers, Easy Run Cap Tee, and Arm Warmers along with my super bright, super awesome Nike Free Run+ 3’s. They’re looking a little beaten up and about ready for running shoe retirement.
The run led me from Eastlake, up over the university bridge, and onto the Burke-Gilman Trail to Gasworks Park out-and-back for a total of 4.5 miles. Mid-way through the run, I decided to stop at the park to take a few photos. It was a perfectly crisp, cool morning and the Seattle skyline was so pretty.
Random note: my neighbor loves to decorate the street corner tree with decorations for any holiday or season. Halloween decorations are still up. Bless her heart.
Dinner Catchup at Peso’s
It’s been a while since I’ve seen my friend and former colleague, Erika, and we decided that dinner and drinks were in order. Toulouse was packed and had a very long wait, so we decided to head next door for some Mexican at Peso’s.
They were participating in Dine Around Seattle, so we both decided to do their 3-course dinner.
My meal consisted of a delicious shrimp and corn chowder, seafood enchiladas, and a banana dessert that was so, so good.
Veggie Grill Thursday
I got I catch up with my friend, Archana, the next night at one of my favorites, Veggie Grill! Archana works on the Social team at Starbucks HQ and her colleague, Natalie, who’s great at calligraphy, offered to make my vision of special Starbucks engagement photo cups come true. More on that later.
I had a delicious Santa Fe Crispy Chickin’ Sandwich with their sweetheart fries. So good!
South Lake Union is absolutely beautiful at nighttime. I’m a big fan of the pretty white lights.
Friday Morning 6-Miler
Friday morning I met up with Megan for a run around Lake Union, just like last Friday.
The run around Lake Union is one of my very favorite runs in Seattle. We ended up running 6.1 miles at a steady 8:34 pace. Megan is 3 weeks out from her first marathon, California International Marathon (CIM), so we made sure to keep it steady and not push ourselves during this run.
With 3 weeks till the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Half, I’ve been thinking that I haven’t been running enough especially since Portland Marathon. The momentum was lost a bit after taking it pretty easy for month, but now getting back to it.
Friday Fun Day
Since I had the day off, I went and did several errands to get ready for the Saturday engagement photo session. First on my list was to get my brows done by my go-to brow girl Tomoko from the Benefit Brow Bar in the downtown Macy’s. I swear by her. She can do no wrong to your brows. 🙂
On an everyday basis, I don’t wear much (if any) brow powder. It’s nicely-groomed but a bit more dramatic above.
I also went to several stores and got a couple of potential sweater options for the engagement shoot. Also picked up another pair of Steve Madden Candence Boots from Nordstrom. They’re my favorite everyday boots and my current ones have holes in both of the soles — not good when Seattle is beginning its rainy season.
Friday Evening German Beer
Our friends Jay and Lindsay came back into town for the weekend and stayed at our place Friday night. Our favorite bar to hit up when they’re in town is Feierabend. We limited the beer since Joe and I had to get up bright and early the next morning.
Still, hanging out with these two is always the best.
Saturday Morning Engagement Photo Shoot
The 6:30am alarm went off bright and early on Saturday morning and I made myself get out of bed for one thing only — our engagement shoot!
We met up with our photographer, Ashley Biess, a Chicago photographer whom I had randomly found through Facebook Ads. I don’t normally click-through on FB ads, but she was promoting that she’d be vacationing in Seattle for one weekend in November and was open to doing one engagement shoot. It must have been fate!
I absolutely loved her portfolio and she had nearly 3,000 likes on her FB page, so I was very confident in her photography and we ended up booking her.
The engagement shoot was located in Pike Place Market and we made our way through the Post Alley, famous gum wall, interior market vendor area, first-ever Starbucks, Public Market signage, and some outdoor shots.
Speaking of Starbucks, as mentioned earlier, my Starbucks HQ friend Archana had a colleague Natalie who’s awesome at calligraphy and art. She made my vision of having beautiful Bride and Groom Starbucks cups decorated for our photos at the first-ever Starbucks. How cute are these?! They feature Bride and Groom and our wedding date. I am in love.
Another prop I used consisted of Scrabble letters. We ended up using “FOREVER.” Will show you actuals when they’re available.
The photo shoot was so much fun. The funniest part, especially for Joe, was when he picked me up in his arms and very slowly twirled me around… near the intersection of 1st Ave and Pike. In public. He was mortified! I assured him that the photos are going to be well, well worth it.
I can’t wait to receive the links to the sneak peeks and the final photos, but for the time-being, Ashley posted a phone capture of her camera picture of one photo. I love it!!
Cold Last Home Football Game
Last night was the very home game of the UW football season. After the engagement shoot, we made our way over to Peso’s for some food and beverages.
We made our way to the game in Jay and Lindsay’s rental car which, coincidentally, is a car in Oiselle Fresh Green color. Definitely a bird car and was meant to be.
Tailgating was fun as usual, though ridiculously freezing. I am not a fan of such cold, though comparatively not cold at all vs. East coast. By the end of the night, my whole body was frozen over. But, in the name of football… it was all fun.
Also can’t believe my Ducks are ranked #2 in the nation! Let’s go O!
My sista!! Joe is best friends with her hubby Jay, so since Joe and I are getting married, we will be sistas!
So brrr-y. Thank goodness my Trials hoodie kept me cozy.
Sunday has been spent super lazy and relaxing, just how I like my Sundays. 🙂
What is your favorite memory of this weekend?
Do you know anyone participating in Movember? My fiancé sure is! Of course, the facial hair immediately came off after the photo shoot.
sarahthefitfoodie 
I didn’t know that CIM would be Megan’s first marathon! She’ll do awesome!
This is so funny: I was at Pike’s Place on Saturday evening, and there was a couple taking engagement photos with a professional photographer. I couldn’t figure out what they were doing, as the backdrop was beautiful (sunset, public market sign,etc), and the couple was standing there with disposable coffee cups. I couldn’t figure out why they couldn’t let go of their coffee for their shoot. Then I realized that I was in Seattle and the coffee cups were a prop!
I hope that your photos turn out amazing!
Yes! The coffee cups I think that are just iconic to this coffee city. 🙂 Plus at Pike Place Market the Starbucks there is the first-ever.
Can’t wait to see more photos and hope they turn out amazingly. I’ll be sure to share!
I love the idea of having your photos at Pike Place! I’m sure they’ll be just beautiful. And all this talk about Veggie Grill makes me want to try it!
Aww thank you! 🙂 Yes, Veggie Grill is amazing. I’ll tweet you some deets!
I’m still trying to get used to early a.m. runs. Right now, I do most of my running on the local trails or the beach, and that’s not till the afternoon. I’d like to make it out early, I just don’t seem too, heh. And yet, waking up on race day isn’t an issue.
Maybe I just need to find a local running group…
Yeah! Find a local running group (I have yet to) or a friend that is really into doing morning runs. I’ve had success with that. Once I commit to a morning run with a friend, I find it very, very difficult to back out.
But, yes… come race day, it’s so much easier to get up before it’s light out. Running along the beach in LA in the morning would be very nice scenery, though. 🙂
Good news is I think I found a local running group today while shopping for some compression socks… The folks at the store were really helpful and as it turns out, a few of them are running an upcoming 6k trail run that I’ve registered for.
I’m starting a new training schedule this week. Want to work on my speed and try desperately to find my stride and a good pace. I’m not doing so well on finding a good pace for myself on longer runs. I can run 3 miles fast, no problem (~8:20/mi). But once I hit that 3rd mile, I’m sluggish if I’m going to keep going. I don’t catch a second burst of energy till the end of mile 4.
I wasn’t happy with my times on my first half-marathon and 10k. But then again, I keep reminding myself, those were my first few races. I look at yours and you’re flying! Ha.